Alex Jacobs-Blum Credit: Marc LeSage
I’m very excited to be speaking with Alex Jacobs-Blum (she/her).
Alex is a Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫʼ (Cayuga) and German visual artist and independent curator living in Hamilton, ON. Her research focuses on Indigenous futurities and accessing embodied Ancestral Hodinöhsö:ni' knowledge.
The core of her practice and methodology is a strong foundation in community building, fostering relationships, empowering youth, and Indigenizing institutional spaces.
Her creative process is rooted in storytelling and challenging hierarchical power structures. Alex seeks to facilitate transformative change infused with love and care.
Alex received a Bachelor of Photography at Sheridan College in 2015, where she was awarded the Canon Award of Excellence for Narrative Photography.
Her artistic work has been exhibited at the Art Gallery of Hamilton – where Alex is currently the RBC Artist in Residence, as well as University of Ottawa, Woodland Cultural Centre in Brantford/Six Nations, ON and the Robert McLaughlin Gallery in Oshawa, ON.
Alex is a member of the Bawaadan Collective -- a group of like-minded Indigenous artisans and accomplices interested in developing collaborative approaches to modern, artistic storytelling and film production processes to create inclusive, mindful spaces that better represent Indigenous peoples in the mainstream.
Alex is also represented by the Art Gallery of Hamilton (AGH) Art Sales + Services.
Alex and I discuss her passion for creating memorable art, films and photographs like those found throughout her first museum solo exhibition, Living and Lost Connections, that explored themes of continuity and legacy embedded in the ancestral knowledge within your body. The exhibit Indigenized space at the AGH from February until May 2024 through photography, film, and installation.
Video and rock spiral from Living and Lost Connections — Alex Jacobs Blum Credit: Art Gallery of Hamilton
Those creative works were born from a trip to Alex’s homelands on the shores of Cayuga Lake – one of the Finger Lakes in what is now called Upper New York. During that time Alex began a journey of grieving, healing and renewal by confronting the intergenerational impact that displacement and trauma had on her ancestors and her family.
Grieving for my Ancestors (2021) Credit: Alex Jacobs-Blum
Moving like Memory (2023) Credit: Alex Jacob-Blume
Echoes from the Stars (2023) Credit: Alex Jacobs-Blum
Currently, the RBC Artist in Residence at the AGH, Alex’s exhibit, In the Shadow of the Eclipse, holds space in the sculpture atrium until March 16, 2025. Curated by Alex, the exhibit centers around April 8, 2024 weaving together her art and photography with pieces drawn from the AGHs permanent settler colonial collection.
On that day, the moon obscured the sun’s light and the path of totality passed over Hodinöhsöni’ homelands, now known as Southern Ontario and Upper New York State. It has been told that the Hodinöhsöni’ Great Law of Peace was formed during a total solar eclipse approximately 1,000 years ago.
Alex makes her own peace in this space by tearing down barriers that have traditionally kept the works of Indigenous artists and their settler colonial counterparts apart.
Historically, art galleries denied Indigenous artists space in what was once considered the domain of white men who chose to display the works of other, mainly, white men and then was viewed by folks of a certain class.
“Making my work accessible to everyone is always my main goal,” Alex Jacobs-Blum.
To paraphrase Alex’s words, she accomplishes this by creating a space for imagination, centering on the visitor, and nurturing practices grounded in reframing and unlearning.
She also accomplishes this by interpreting the AGH permanent collection through Hodinöhsö:ni' perspective while amplifying Hodinöhsö:ni' teachings of the Eclipse in an immersive way, intended to bring peace of mind.
Drifting on the edge of the universe (2024) — Alex Jacobs-Blum Photo credit: Doreen Nicoll
Alex also makes the art accessible by opening up the process. Instead of locking works behind glass or in display cases, folks are invited to get up close and personal in order to view even the tiniest of details.
She includes women’s art and women’s so-called “crafts” in the form of Elizabeth Doxtater’s corn husk dolls with their intricate detailing and impossibly tiny and elaborate beadwork. These figures reside safely inside a display case to protect them from the impulse to want to touch Elizabeth’s art.
Teioterahkwá:sera - Eclipse by Mohawk artist Elizabeth Doxtater (2024) Photo credit: Doreen Nicoll
In the Shadow of the Eclipse explores the intersections of peace, grief, love, and loss, as well as our responsibilities as we move into the future together. Through personal reflections on the teachings and practices of peace, Alex creates a space that restores balance and a connection with the natural world.
Soapstone carvings of geese made by residents of the Hamilton Mountain Sanitorium where approximately 1,300 Inuit patients were treated for tuberculosis from 1953 to 1963. Many of the artists remain unacknowledged. Credit: Doreen Nicoll
Panel listing the Inuit soapstone carvers whose work is included in In the Shadow of the Eclipse. Credit: Doreen Nicoll
Find out why the April 8th eclipse was so significant for Alex and the Cayuga Nation; why she chose Chiefswood Park located on the banks of the Grand River in Oshweken, ON to experience the total eclipse of the sun; and how that experience informed In the Shadow of the Eclipse and the works it features.
A Search for Peace (2021) Credit: Alex Jacob-Blum
Area for resting, reading and sharing. Credit: Doreen Nicoll
Thanks to everyone who read today’s article and listened to my podcast. With your continued support, a little Nicoll can make a lot of change.
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