Remember, 2014; My Lineage, 2014; Niitsitapiisini, meaning “our way of life”, 2014.

~Three original works by Namaakii Bee Bear Hat for group exhibition Deadly Lady Art Triumvirate, Contmeporary Calgary, Mohkinstsis, AB.~

Deadly Lady Art Triumvirate: Group Exhibition, February 8 -April 27 2014, Contemporary Calgary, Calgary, AB.

~excerpt~ Refuse Silence / an essay by Angela Marie Schenstead -- In discussion: a conversation with Tanya Harnett, Brittney Bear Hat, and Amy Malbeuf.

“Brittney Bear Hat’s work is personal and poetic and speaks directly about family, land, memory, and identity. Niitsitapiisini, meaning “our way of life”, is a self-portrait video projection of ghostly photographs of her mother (now deceased) and father that fade in and out of focus. Brittney stresses the importance of remembering as a means for understanding her own self. She furthers this sentiment in her Remember series, where she shares short stories tinged with sadness and longing. In one of the works she shares, “My dad showed us his family trapline. He told us you can still find arrowheads there. I still haven’t found one,” and in another work, “I could always find my kokum out in the bush, tanning or scraping hides.” These statements are punctuated with plastic miniatures fastened to the paper just above the text, as though they were storybook illustrations. They emphasize her desire to belong.”