Gallery TWP presents their own curatorial researcher, Jesse King, who introduces a group of artists and designers, a collective also known as The Celestial Collective. They are two-spirited, indigenous queer and non-conforming artists who invite the audience into a space of rarely heard voices surrounding the topics of gender and sexual expression through desire and despair.
Every artist offers an element of unique ancestry and a sense of ownership, body and soul, as well as poetic narratives in treasured memories scattered in lost places. The stories told with each photograph, with each bead and match, honor their ancestors and their families with care, including care for themselves, giving the strength to survive in a new age, where the sense of family is needed more than ever. The exhibition showcases multiple cultural roots where gender identity and indigeneity weave a core of resilience from one ancestor’s branch to another, while inviting others to explore these branches.
Kikki Guerard, You talked to me on the outside, 2025, wool, silk, fabric print, 55 x 28 inches
When visitors enter the gallery space, they are facing a flame-like awakening, a journey of storytelling and rituals, rooted in the history of families who survived persecution as a nation and made it out even stronger.
Kikki Guerard, Redbird, beaded box, 2025, D 2.3 D x W 2.5 x H 4.3 inches
As for the central piece of this show, Constellation Spark, visitors are welcome to experience, as described by the collective, “touch and ritual,” and become one with the stories the artists tell. As the main foundation of the show, sound and video give visitors a tour inside multiple bodies of work made from beads, TV static, video and print.
The Celestial Collective, Constellation Spark, video installation / Sound Scape, 2025
Each TV is playing a video loop, filmed by each member of the collective striking a match from the Redbird box to spark a discussion very similar to the beginning of a sacred ceremony. Each element, such as the Redbird matches and beaded work, is a piece of memory the artists hold close, yet are brave enough to “throw into the fire” to share the story of resilience that will live on.
The Celestial Collective, Constellation Spark, video installation / Sound Scape, 2025
Text and photo: Polyna Alexseev
*Exhibition information: Smoke Signals x Reflections by The Celestial Collective / Jesse King, Jake Kimble, Kikki Guerard, Melissa Johns, Megan Feheley, February 12 – March 30, 2025, Gallery TPW, 170 Saint Helens Avenue, Toronto. Gallery Hours: Wednesday – Saturday, 11 am – 5 pm.