No present without the past. No equality without feminism.Nekt wikuhpon ehpit chronicles the sources, inspiration, and personal circumstances that have shaped Shirley Bear's visual art, poetry, and political activism and presents the integral relationship amongst these important activities in her life.Countering the invisible silent status ascribed to Indigenous women by patriarchal history and convention, Bear's primary focus has been the recovery of the feminine role in the ancestral life of First Nations culture. Featuring more than 30 reproductions of her work with essays by Terry Graff, Susan Crean, and Carol Taylor, Nekt wikuhpon ehpit both depicts and examines the essential feminine imagery of Bear's work in their symbolic, archetypal, or representative forms.Shirley Bear's work has been featured in exhibitions throughout Canada, the United States, and Europe. Her writing has been featured in several anthologies, including Kelusultiek: Original Women's Voices of Atlantic Canada and The Colour of Resistance. She received the New Brunswick Excellence in the Arts Award in 2002.
Terry Graff is a visual artist, curator, and writer. He has served as Director and Chief Curator of the Beaverbrook Art Gallery in Fredericton and the Mendel Art Gallery in Saskatoon. His art work has toured internationally and is included in many private and public collections.Terry Graff est un artiste visuel, conservateur et écrivain. Il a été directeur et conservateur en chef de la Beaverbrook Art Gallery de Fredericton et de la Mendel Art Gallery de Saskatoon. Ses œuvres ont fait des tournées internationales et figurent dans de nombreuses collections privées et publiques.