Indigenous arts

On September 30, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, Canadians acknowledge the harms and multi-generational effects of the residential school system on Indigenous peoples and their communities across the country. 

The AFA also recognizes the importance of Indigenous Peoples’ contributions in and through the arts, as well as the important role the arts can play in the process of reconciliation. The AFA continues to support a thriving Indigenous arts sector in Alberta and provides funding specifically for Indigenous Arts individual artist projects. We are also proud to hold more than 275 artworks by Indigenous artists in the AFA Art Collection.

Featured artwork

In 2025, on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, the AFA is pleased to feature Ancestors (Keepers), 1991, by Dr. Joane Cardinal-Schubert. 

This piece is part of the Letter to Emily series, a deeply personal and evocative body of work. The series was inspired by Cardinal-Schubert’s interest in the life and legacy of Canadian artist Emily Carr. Cardinal-Schubert initiates a visual and textual dialogue with Carr through large-scale paintings that layer text and symbolic imagery.

These diaristic reflections explore themes of identity, memory, and cultural continuity. In this intimate exchange, Cardinal-Schubert not only contemplates Carr’s experiences but also affirms her own voice as a keeper of ancestral knowledge and Indigenous presence within the narrative of Canadian art.

Artist profile

Kainai/Blood artist, Dr. Joane Cardinal-Schubert was a multi-media, visual, and installation artist, a writer, lecturer, free-lance curator and director of film and theatre. Her writing has been published nationally and internationally in art magazines, catalogues and books and she has also served as an editor of Fuse magazine.

Cardinal-Schubert was instrumental in guiding the AFA in 2008 and 2009 in a special curatorial initiative focused on building up the holdings of the AFA Art Collection with contemporary Indigenous art. Her wisdom and guidance helped to significantly enhance the AFA’s holdings from Indigenous artists. She also provided an avenue to acquire artworks by Indigenous artists previously unknown to the AFA Art Collection and built new relationships with Indigenous artists along the way. Among the holdings of artworks in the AFA Art Collection, 23 artworks were created by Cardinal-Schubert.

Celebrate Indigenous art

Cardinal-Schubert’s Ancestors (Keepers) is currently on display as part of the New Views exhibition at the AFA art house in Calgary. Among the 50 artworks currently included in New Views, 20 per cent of them are by Indigenous artists. Other Indigenous artists featured in this exhibition include:

• Brandon Atkinson
• MJ Belcourt
• Maureen Callihoo
• Kiona Callihoo Ligtvoet
• Nancy Desjarlais
• Alex Janvier
• Jane Ash Poitras

Closure notice

In respect of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, the AFA’s offices in Edmonton and Calgary, and the AFA art house will be closed. We will be open again on October 1.