About the exhibition:

Welcome to the Dreamhouse is on view at the National Gallery of Canada until September 1, 2025.

This solo exhibition tells the story of Skawennati’s dynamic artistic trajectory as she envisions Indigenous people in the future.

Beginning with Imagining Indians in the 25th Century (2000), a catalytic web-based work, this survey continues through her exploration of technology until her most recent works, such as the 3-channel music video and fashion collection They Sustain Us (2024). Rooted in Haudenosaunee storytelling, her avatars, costumes, machinimas (movies made in a virtual environment such as a game) and prints playfully imagine and create a place where Indigenous people thrive.

About the artist:

Skawennati creates art from her perspective as an urban Kanien’kehá:ka woman, and as a cyberpunk avatar. Her machinimas and machinimagraphs (movies and still images made in virtual environments), textiles and sculpture question our relationships with technology, and highlight Indigenous people of the future.

Recipient of a 2022 Hewlett 50 Arts Commissions Grant and an Honorary Doctorate from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Skawennati co-directs Aboriginal Territories in Cyberspace (AbTeC), a research-creation studio-lab at Concordia University in Montreal. She is also on the boards of Rhizome, and of daphne: Montreal’s first Indigenous artist-run centre, which she-co-founded. Originally from Kahnawà:ke, Skawennati resides in Montreal.