OTTAWA ART GALLERY SPECIAL COMMISSION: SHELLEY NIRO’S “HOMAGE TO FOUR IN PARIS” FOOTAGE OF BARRY ACE’S SITE-SPECIFIC PERFORMANCE

In 2010, at the invitation of artist Robert Houle, Ace travelled to Paris, France and undertook four site-specific dance performances honouring the Anishinaabe dance troupe lead by Maungwaudaus (George Henry), whom in 1844 performed in George Catlin’s traveling portrait gallery exhibition. Under special commission by the Ottawa Art Gallery, Shelley Niro’s new film short entitled Homage to Four in Paris (edited by Katharine Asals and camera by Jeff Sterne) documents Ace’s Reparative Act performances in Paris in 2010. The film is included in the Ottawa Art Gallery’s inaugural exhibition We’ll All Become Stories and is included in the permanent collection of the OAG. A shorter version of Ace’s dance performances is also included in Shelley Niro’s award-winning film Robert’s Paintings, chronicling the life and career of artist Robert Houle. Ace’s essay, A Reparative Act, written for Houle’s exhibition catalogue from the perspective of a dancer, won the Ontario Association of Art Gallery’s Curatorial Writing Award for 2012.

To request a loan for Homage to Four in Paris, please contact the Ottawa Art Gallery.

DOWNLOADABLE POSTERS (featuring images from Reparative Act performances)

Red Runners: The new objectification of Native art and Identity (2010)

A Reparative Act: Artist talk at History Department at Carleton University (2013)