People of the Watershed

Paul Seesequasis is a nîpisîhkopâwiyiniw (Willow Cree) curator and writer in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. He has been active in the Indigenous arts as an artist and a policymaker since the 1990s, and since 2015 he has curated the Indigenous Archival Photo Project. He is the author of Blanket Toss Under Midnight Sun: Portraits of Everyday Life in Eight Indigenous Communities (2019).John Macfie (1925–2018) was a photographer, local historian, and writer. In the 1950s and 1960s he was a trapline manager with the Department of Lands and Forests in Ontario. He later became a columnist for the Georgian Bay Beacon and the Parry Sound North Star. This is the first major exhibition of his photography.

"John Macfie’s vivid and stirring photographs show a way of life on full display—the world my ancestors inhabited and that my mom fondly described to me. It is a world that, shortly after these pictures were taken, ended. So distant and yet achingly familiar, these pictures feel like a visit home."–Jesse Wente, Anishinaabe broadcaster, arts leader, and author ofUnreconciled: Family, Truth, and Indigenous Resistance"The images reflect a sensitive eye and respectful approach to a solid documentary project."–The Globe and Mail"Shines a light on the overlooked histories of Indigenous communities in northern Ontario."–APTNPraise for Paul Seesequasis's Blanket Toss Under Midnight Sun:"A revelatory work of astonishing grace, Blanket Toss Under Midnight Sun encapsulates an invisible generation brought to glorious life. So many times, the subject could have been my auntie, cousin or grandmother. When people ask why I live on the rez, I’ll point them to this book, this stunning reclamation of narrative, which so movingly shows the love of place, community and self."–Eden Robinson"Paul Seesequasis's Blanket Toss Under Midnight Sun is a wonderful collection of found photographs and recovered histories that link us to a past as old as the land and as precious as breath."–Thomas King, author of The Inconvenient Indian