Justine Woods: I love you as much as all the beads in the universe

Opening in the Project Gallery Sunday, April 24, 1:00pm – 4:00pm

This exhibition engages with a praxis of decolonial love through garment construction and beadwork as a practice-based method of inquiry. The body of work centres decolonial love as methodology with the expressed purpose to physically and conceptually re-stitch alternative worlds that are grounded in ethical practices and based on respect, empathy, reciprocity, consent and love. Engaging in decolonial love as praxis, the artistic production of the work presented re-frames pattern drafting, garment construction and stitching methods within decolonial and relationship-based contexts. Woods prioritizes, and foregrounds, all of the relationships that make up her identity as a Penetanguishene Aabitaawikwe and centres these relationships as praxis towards building alternative worlds of love that honour, celebrate and mobilize Indigenous internationalism, intercultural solidarity, co-resistance and liberation.

Justine Woods is a garment artist, designer and creative scholar based in Tkaronto. She holds a Master of Design from OCAD University and a Bachelor of Design in Fashion Design from X University (formally Ryerson). Currently, Justine is a Doctoral Candidate in the Media and Design Innovation PhD program at X University. Justine’s design practice investigates the ways fashion and garment-making practices facilitate, activate and mobilize Indigenous resurgence and liberation. Her work prioritizes all of the relationships that make up her identity as an Aabitaawikwe; an identity she has inherited from her family and her Aabitaawizininiwag Ancestors. Justine was born and raised in Tiny, Ontario and is a member of the Georgian Bay Métis Community.