Lunch and Learn with Sonny Assu

Lunch and Learn with Sonny Assu

Wednesday, August 28
12:30 to 1:30 PM
Free | Online | Registration required

In this virtual Lunch and Learn session, To go boldly exhibiting artist Sonny Assu will explore the ways his love of Star Trek has influenced his artistic practice over the past several years. He will share insights into how the iconic series has shaped his creative journey and inspired his distinctive body of work.

About the Artist

Sonny Assu (Ligwiłda'xw of the Kwakwaka'wakw Nations) was raised in North Delta, BC, over 250 km away from his ancestral home on Vancouver Island. Having been raised as your everyday average suburbanite, it wasn't until he was eight years old that he uncovered his Kwakwaka'wakw heritage. Later in life, this discovery would be the conceptual focal point that helped launch his unique art practice.

Assu explores multiple mediums and materials through a lens of pop culture, decolonialization, and Indigenous Futurism. Sonny often imbues his work with autobiographical, humorous, and political connotations to deal with the realities of being Indigenous in the colonial state of Canada.

Assu received his BFA from Emily Carr University in 2002 and his MFA in 2017 from Concordia University. He currently resides in ƛam̓atax̌ʷ (Campbell River, BC), within unceded Ligwiłda’xw territory.

Image Credits

Thumbnail: Yeah... shit's about to go sideways. I'll take you to Amerind. You'll like it, looks like home. (detail), 2016. Digital intervention on an Emily Carr Painting (Cape Mudge: An Indian Family with Totem Pole, 1912), archival Pigment Print, 22 x 29.5"

Portrait: Geoff Wallang