Gabrielle L'Hirondelle Hill “Counterblaste” Venice Biennale Art Exhibition

Gabrielle L'Hirondelle Hill was born in 1979; she lives and works in Canada. Her work is presented in the central pavilion of the Giardini.

Gabrielle Hill's work challenges the notion of a “settled” city while revealing the material history of colonization.

She collects trash such as beer can tabs, and dollar store medallions, incorporating these found objects into sculptures and drawings on tobacco-infused Crisco coated paper, which she called Spells.

Gabrielle L'Hirondelle Hill “Counterblast” 2021

The amazing sculpture called “Counterblast” is a large odalisque with long rabbit ears and white flowers in its eyes, quietly lying on its side, showing off its eight nipples.

This creature made of tobacco-stuffed tights wears amulets, beads, rabbit fur earrings, and jogging shoes at the tips of her legs bent back.

“Counterblast” was the title of the missive written by the King of England in 1604 accusing the natives of North America of having transmitted to Europeans the bad habit of smoking tobacco.

The King criticized the filth, the immoderate sexuality of the American natives who, in reality, had contracted venereal diseases transmitted by the colonists who had imagined them so arranged.

He criticized their refusal to use money by saying that they preferred glass, feathers and other trinkets to gold and precious stones.

Gabrielle L'Hirondelle Hill wanted to remind us that “tobacco bills” were among the first forms of paper money used in the British colonies of North America.

“Counterblast” is this artist's aesthetic response to the prejudices of colonizers and the imposition of capitalism by colonial governments on Indigenous peoples, as well as a symbol of freedom recalling the persistence of their cultures in the present.

This evocative remix of local materials criticizes colonialism while honouring expansive economic models that find power in reciprocity.

Gabrielle L'Hirondelle Hill, Counterblaste