Encrypted Identities, Decoded Histories
July 11-27, 2025
Artist Talk, Sunday, July 20th – 2pm
Register for the Online Link here (Google Meet): https://forms.gle/ZQfgw4cSAdQxAdox8
In Encrypted Identities, Decoded History, Heidi Bergstrom (she/her), in collaboration with her eldest daughter Adryan Bergstrom-Borins (she/her), create an installation comprised of thematic works in textiles, beading, multimedia video projections, audio, photography, and texts that reflect and attempt to reconcile the artistsโ intersecting histories of their Icelandic and Red River Mรฉtis ancestry. The underlying narrative of the work seeks to understand and respect, acknowledge past wrongs, contradictions, and conflicts, and to honour and recognize the people, conditions, and histories in a colonial context.
The work is one installation comprised of several parts, in a variety of media from textiles to traditional beading to video mapping, which were created in Iceland, Spain, Netherlands, and in Canada in Dinosaur Provincial Park (Alberta), Manitoba (Gimli), and British Columbia (Metchosin). The creation of this installation has required extensive research, collaboration, experimentation, and learning.
About the Artists
Heidi Bergstrom
Heidi Bergstrom (she/her) is a settler of mixed Euro-Scandinavian background (Sweden and Iceland), her family is Michif from Manigotagan, and she is a Red River, Manitoba Mรฉtis citizen. Heidiโs education includes a Master of Arts, Political Science (2019) from the University of Victoria, BC; a Diploma in New Media (Internet Site Design, 3D Animation, and Multimedia Production) (2000) Victoria, BC, a Bachelor of Fine Arts, Honours (1990) from York University, Ontario where she majored in studio arts and art history. Heidi studied visual arts full-time at the Toronto School of Art (1984-86). Heidiโs early artistic background includes dance (classical ballet) at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School and Professional Program with Goh Ballet in Vancouver, BC, and contemporary/modern in Victoria, BC. Since 2016, Heid has hosted artists of all disciplines from around the world at her studio program Studio H Canada International Artist Residency (https://studiohcanadaresidency.ca).
You can find more information about Heidi t at the following links:
Website: https://www.studiohcanada.ca
Instagram: @hjbergstrom
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hjbergstrom/
Adryan Bergstrom-Borins (she/her)
Adryan (she/her) is a white settler of mixed Euro-Scandinavian and Jewish descent, and a Red River Mรฉtis citizen. She creates a variety of beaded jewellery and functional objects, many of which express traditional Mรฉtis design. Adryan holds a Master of Public Policy and Sexual Diversity Studies and Bachelor of Public Policy & International Development Studies from the University of Toronto. She has worked in the Indigenous well-being sector for the past seven years in government and non-profit, and in the women and gender and sexual diversity sector for over a decade. You can see Adryanโs bead work on Instagram.
Click the box below for the Zoom Link
Xchanges gratefully acknowledges the support of the Province of British Columbia and the Capital Regional District for our gallery programs.
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