Dancing with Our Ancestors: Weaving Connections Between CommunitiesVisual Art Exhibit, May 2025
Co-curated by: David Ng, Alejandra Gaviria-Serna, Francisco Gómez, Huuyatlh (Tabatha Frank), Judith Colibrí, Palexelsiya (Lorelei Williams)
May 5 - May 20, 2025.
UBC Robson Square, Vancouver
Dancing with our Ancestors is both a practice and a reflexive metaphor for the creative processes through which communities from different regions in the world engage in memory labour across two dimensions: as a means of reclaiming the knowledge, tools, and teachings of those who have come before, and as a way to rekindle these elements as vital resources in contemporary struggles for social justice and in reimagining and rebuilding our worlds in the wake of violence.
In this multi-site exhibit, Butterflies in Spirit and the Transformative Memory International Network stitch different, yet parallel experiences of denunciation, resistance, togetherness, searching for loved ones, and seeking the truth. To reflect upon the aftermath of settler colonialism and prolonged violence, while also illuminating the diverse ways artists and communities can weave spaces to dialogue, contest, and reimagine memory/futurities as a way of collective action.
Dancing with our Ancestors: Weaving Connections Between Communities is a transnational commitment to knit together and recognize the poetics of everyday memories that would otherwise be forgotten by dominant historical narratives. The pieces that comprise this exhibit are expressions of the numerous resourceful, embodied, and intimate ways in which memory, as a creative force, is articulated by people worldwide who have experienced systemic violence.
The exhibit also includes three window installations by local artists at Decolonial Clothing (Chinatown), Union Cooperative Initiative (Chinatown), and UBC Robson Square.
Photography: Amber Hughes
Video Editing: David Ng
Videography: Eric Sanderson
Featured Creators
Alit Ambara (Indonesia)
Adriana Contreras (Turtle Island & Colombia)
Butterflies in Spirit (Turtle Island - Canada)
Conflict Textiles: Irene MacWilliam (Northern Ireland)
Erika Diettes (Colombia)
Guayacan’s Crafts Group (Bojayá - Colombia)
Luz H Almendra Aranda & Violeta K Rozental Almendra (Misak - Colombia)
Morgan Asoyuf (Ts’msyen Eagle Clan from Ksyeen River, BC - Canada)
Movement of Victims of State Crimes - MOVICE (Colombia)
Peter Morin (Tahltan Nation - Canada)
The Families of the Missing (Gulu, Uganda)
The Women’s Advocacy Network - WAN (Gulu, Uganda)
Window Installation Creators
Adriana Contreras
Atheana Picha
Exhibition Coordinators
Alejandra Gaviria-Serna
David Ng
Curatorial Team
Alejandra Gaviria-Serna
David Ng
Francisco Gómez
Huuyatlh (Tabatha Frank)
Judith Colibrí
Palexelsiya (Lorelei Williams)
Catalogue
Alejandro Medina (Design and Layout)
Adriana Contreras (Illustrations)
Special Thanks
Ben Siegl
Mary Point
Jada-Gabrielle Pape
Michael Behrmann
Transformative Memory International Network Co-Directors
Pilar Riaño-Alcalá
Erin Baines