q̓emxwéqsem (to tie a knot at the end of your thread) is a collection of beadwork and hand-stitched objects by Secwépemc interdisciplinary artist and curator Serena Steel. Serena’s practice as an artist is centered around her identity, reciprocity, belonging and acts of care.
In her first solo exhibition, Serena presents a delicate and touching body of work that compels you to admire and appreciate the intricacy of each stitch. The exhibit features fifteen artworks by the artist, all of which are centered around her family, community, memories, and intentionality. q̓emxwéqsem (to tie a knot at the end of your thread) is a deeply personal and inspiring exhibition that features Serena’s skill of craft and growth as a contemporary artist.
“A big pillar of my work is being connected with other people. Often my mom and I will sit and bead together. It’s a lot about community.“
Beadwork and handmade craft make up a large part of Indigenous culture. Across Turtle Island, our people have been making beaded, hand-sewn and woven items for generations. Through the variety of techniques and mediums used in Serena’s exhibition, she demonstrates the importance of passed down cultural knowledge and how it’s inspired her practice.
Beading and weaving are the threads that help connect Serena to her Secwépemc roots and loved ones, especially while living away from her traditional territory. In an interview with Stir Magazine, Serena states “A big pillar of my work is being connected with other people. Often my mom and I will sit and bead together. It’s a lot about community.” The influence of those closest to her is evident in her practice.
Who Do You Belong To? (2022), photographed by Serena Steel
“Often people don’t recognize the amount of time, effort and patience that is required for beading and hand-sewing. Realizing the skills required for these mediums makes the beauty of the artwork that much more impressive.“
Walking through the exhibition, the collective work gives an immediate sense of warmth. The vibrant colours immediately draw you in to the small, shiny beads (except in the case of Rearview #2, where beads are replaced by colourful, marbled caribou tufts as embellishment). Who Do You Belong To? depicts Serena’s grandparents and her mother in a large, detailed beaded portrait, and immediately stands out walking into the exhibition space. Beaded text directly above the portraits bares the artworks title.
The question – who do you belong to, is how people from Serena’s community ask unfamiliar individuals who they are, to get an understanding of which family they come from and how to place them in the broader community. The question is also a testament to the importance of family values among her people. Serena says that she belongs to her mom and her grandparents, that she has a responsibility to them and honours their relationships in her work. She clearly cites them as her inspiration and greatest teachers, as many of her crafting skills were taught to her by loved ones.
As you’re examining each piece, it is hard to picture the labour that went into its creation, but each would have taken many painstakingly hours to create. Often people don’t recognize the amount of time, effort and patience that is required for beading and hand-sewing. Realizing the skills required for these mediums makes the beauty of the artwork that much more impressive.
In this exhibition, Serena’s chosen to include a series of baskets she’s woven that were adorned by beads. Her pieces Sky Basket, Birch Bark Basket, Land Basket, are baskets that she’s made over the course of several years, following her from home to home, and have evolved alongside her. These baskets were made with the knowledge that she received through community in workshops, and materials that were gathered within her territory. It was truly a labour of love. She had always felt that the baskets were unfinished until recently when she chose to bead the rim. Like the baskets, several pieces in the exhibition were previously made but were altered or reconceptualized in the last few years. Serena demonstrates a clear growth and progression as an artist within this exhibition.
Land Basket & Sky Basket (2024), photographed by Alex Montes
“Through subtle humour and heartfelt memories, Serena’s work evokes feelings of nostalgia and comfort through almost every artwork featured in q̓emxwéqsem (to tie a knot at the end of your thread).“
XL Daisy Chain (2024), courtesy of Serena Steel
Where there is evolution there also lies experimentation. In XL Daisy Chain, Serena enlarged a daisy chain pattern that is usually created with seed beads and hand-sewed them using Melton wool. Playing with scale and material, she has blown up a project that is typically made much smaller. To emphasize the scale of this piece, Serena’s chosen to wrap the end of the rope with regular seed beads to show just how small the beads truly are. This particular piece took her approximately a month of work to complete and was a significant milestone in her practice, as she’s never made anything similar to this size.
Through subtle humour and heartfelt memories, Serena’s work evokes feelings of nostalgia and comfort through almost every artwork featured in q̓emxwéqsem (to tie a knot at the end of your thread). Knowing Serena personally and seeing how her practice has grown over the last few years makes me genuinely excited to see what she’ll accomplish next. Though she is still an emerging artist, she has shown that she is more than capable of creating some truly unique and meaningful work that is deeply rooted in the love of her culture, community, and family.
Bibliography:
Johnson, Gail. “Indigenous artist Serena Steel explores belonging through painstakingly intricate beadwork and hand-stitching.” Stir Arts & Culture | Vancouver. Published August 22, 2024.
Steel, Serena. Birch Bark Basket, 2019, Birch back and cedar root, 10 x 12 x 9 cm, Collection of the artist.
Steel, Serena. Land Basket, 2024, Glass beads, pine needles and sinew, 9 x 9 x 5 cm, Collection of the artist.
Steel, Serena. Sky Basket, 2024, Glass beads, pine needles and sinew, 6 x 6 x 3.5 cm, Collection of the artist.
Steel, Serena. Rearview #2, 2024, Caribou fur tufting on leather, chain, 18 x 9.5 x 22 cm, Collection of the artist.
Steel, Serena. Who Do You Belong To?, 2022, Glass beads on Melton wool, 70 x 46.5 cm, Collection of the artist.
Steel, Serena. XL Daisy Chain, 2024, Melton wool, rope, seed beads, 60 x 60 x 20 cm, Collection of the artist.
reviewer biography
Aliya is Anishinaabe and a member of Sagkeeng First Nation, located on Treaty 1 Territory in Manitoba. She is Curator of the Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art as well as a multi-disciplinary artist, exploring photography, digital illustration, and traditional beading.
She completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Manitoba in 2020, and recently graduated with a Post-Baccalaureate Diploma in Indigenous Studies from Simon Fraser University.