"The way we experience the passing of time shapes our relationship to our immediate world. My awareness of time comes from an overlapping of two distinct approaches-one is that of a linear path that extends in both directions from the present, and another one that is recurrent and cyclical. This intersection of world views has been part of my upbringing, a result of being born into a family both Western (British/Dutch) and Indigenous (Plains Cree). Many places I visited hold particular meaning for my direct ancestors as they are sites of significant moments in their lives; I was drawn to the sites of ancient stories across central and southern Canadian Prairies and to the shores of early settlement in the Canadian Maritimes. My aim was to reconnect with those who came before me as a way of introducing myself to the land on which they lived. I came to see these landscapes as immense time capsules of buried knowledge. As Immense as the Sky is about walking these ancient paths, experiencing the diversity of panoramas, and learning about my ancestors' wisdom."
Meryl McMaster
Meryl McMaster
Born 1988, Ottawa, Canada. Lives and works in Chelsea, Quebec.
Meryl McMaster holds a BFA from OCAD University (2010). Her awards include the Scotiabank New Generation Photography Award, REVEAL Indigenous Art Award, Charles Pachter Prize for Emerging Artists, Canon Canada Prize, and OCAD U Medal. Her work has been shown at the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Art Gallery of Ontario, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, Toronto, and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American Indian, Washington. Meryl McMaster will represent Canada in New Worlds: Women to Watch 2024 @ National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington. Remai Modern and McMichael Canadian Art Collection have produced and are touring currently a survey exhibition of Meryl McMaster, whose groundbreaking large-scale photographic works reflect her mixed Plains Cree/Métis, Dutch and British ancestry. This exhibition includes works from throughout her career and bring us up to date on her current explorations of family histories, in particular those of her Plains Cree female forebears from the Red Pheasant Cree Nation in present-day Saskatchewan.