Artwork by Erin Marie Konsmo, Métis artist

By Lisa Parent

TREX Space features Métis and Indigenous artwork made from fish scales

Sep 26, 2023 | 5:07 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – TREX Space in Medicine Hat is diving into unique waters with its latest art exhibit, Tale of a Fish Scale. Using real fish scales, this art form is developed and practiced by Métis and Cree people living in Northern Alberta.

“It’s an Indigenous art form that really is centered around that practice of not letting anything go to waste, using all parts of the animal,” says Sierra Zukowski, program manager for TREX. “You’re not just using it for the food, but also to make artwork. So that’s really interesting and it’s really beautiful artwork. It’s very intricate, very delicate.”

Zukowski says Indigenous artists catch, clean and scale the fish. After the scales dry, they are sometimes colored and arranged to make the art.

In another series at the same exhibit, prints are used to depict pollution and its impact on fish species in Alberta. Three Indigenous artists curated this exhibit, Laura Grier (Déljnę First Nations), Erin Marie Konsmo (Métis Nation of Alberta) and Ruby Sweetman (mixed Cree ancestry).

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For two years, this art has traveled around Alberta before ending up at TREX Space.

“Bringing that awareness and that knowledge of that art form through exhibitions like this that travel and are accessible is really special, and people seem to really be interested in it. A lot of people don’t realize what it is at first, that it’s actual fish scales and actual porcupine quills and caribou hair,” explains Zukowski.

This exhibit is open until November 4th, and is free for the public to get in.