Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill (b. 1979, Comox, British Columbia, Canada) is a Métis artist and writer. Hill’s sculptural practice explores the history of found materials to enquire into concepts of land, property, and economy. Often, her projects emerge from an interest in capitalism as an imposed, impermanent, and vulnerable system, as well as in alternative economic modes. Her works have used found and readily-sourced materials to address concepts such as private property, exchange, and black-market economies. Hill is a member of BUSH gallery, an Indigenous artist collective seeking to decentre Eurocentric models of making and thinking about art, prioritizing instead land-based teachings and Indigenous epistemologies. Hill is Cree and English, with maternal roots in the Michel Band and Papaschase. She lives on the unceded territories of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, xʷməθkʷəy̓əm and səlilwətaɬ Nations.
Hill received her MFA from the California College of the Arts, and a BFA and BA from Simon Fraser University. Recent exhibitions include the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the 59th Venice Biennale; Le Magasin CNAC, Grenoble; the Vancouver Art Gallery, Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver; the College Art Galleries at the University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon; Art Gallery of Alberta; Cooper Cole, Gallery TPW, Toronto, Ontario; amongst others. Her writing has been published in many places, most recently in Beginning With the Seventies (Helen Belkin, 2019). She is also the co-editor of The Land We Are: Artists and Writers Unsettle the Politics of Reconciliation (ARP 2009) and Read, Listen, Tell: Indigenous Stories from Turtle Island (Wilfred Laurier 2017).
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Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill
M*****, Contemporary Art Gallery
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill – M*****, Contemporary Art Gallery, 2023
Vancouver, Canada
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill
Untitled
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill – Untitled, 2023
Tobacco, nylon stockings, stones, pressed flowers, chair, sneakers, compressions socks, thread, nail polish, copper
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Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill
The Milk of Dreams, 59th Venice Biennale
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill – The Milk of Dreams, 59th Venice Biennale, 2022
Venice, Italy
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill
La Position de L’Amour, Le Magasin CNAC
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill – La Position de L’Amour, Le Magasin CNAC, 2022
Grenoble, France
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill
We Yes Are Meat
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill – We Yes Are Meat, 2022
Tobacco-infused Crisco, pigment, paper cutouts, dried flowers, press on nails, on paper
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Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill
Last Hot Days
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill – Last Hot Days, 2022
Tobacco-infused Crisco, pigment, paper cutouts, dried flowers, blackberries, on paper
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Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill
Exit
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill – Exit, 2022
Tobacco-infused Crisco, pigment, paper cutouts, blackberries, dried flowers
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Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill
Entrance
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill – Entrance, 2022
Tobacco-infused Crisco, pigment, paper cutouts, press on nail, charm, thread, dried flower, on paper
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Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill
Dandelions
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill – Dandelions, 2022
Tobacco-infused Crisco, oil pigments, on paper
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Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill
Before
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill – Before, 2022
Tobacco-infused Crisco, pigment, paper cutouts, press on nail, on paper
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Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill
Counterblaste
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill – Counterblaste, 2021
Pantyhose, tobacco, beer can tabs, plastic flowers, dried flowers, earring beaded by Cheryl L'Hirondelle, thread, charms, running shoes, rabbit-fur earrings, nail polish
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Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill
Spell #14, petrovoloi
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill – Spell #14, petrovoloi, 2020
Tobacco-infused crisco oil, oil paint, magazine cutouts, cocoon, and thistle on paper
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Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill
X-tend
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill – X-tend, 2021
Pantyhose, tobacco, thread, dried flowers, and rabbit fur
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Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill
Wave
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill – Wave, 2021
Tobacco-infused crisco oil, oil paint, magazine cutouts, tobacco pendant, charms, plastic flowers, electrical tape, and thread on paper, and dowel
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Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill
Spread
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill – Spread, 2021
Pantyhose, tobacco, thread, charms, and rabbit fur
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Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill
Herald
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill – Herald, 2021
Tobacco-infused crisco oil, oil paint, magazine cutouts, tobacco pendants, electrical tape, and thread on paper, and dowel
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Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill
Projects: Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill, MoMA
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill – Projects: Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill, MoMA, 2021
New York, USA
Digital Images © 2021 The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Photos by Denis Doorly, and Robert Gerhardt
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill
Four effigies for the end of property, Kenderdine Art Gallery
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill – Four effigies for the end of property, Kenderdine Art Gallery, 2020
Saskatoon, Canada
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill
Preempt
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill – Preempt, 2017
De-accessioned artifacts from the North Vancouver Museum and Archives
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill
The Highest and Best Use
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill – The Highest and Best Use, 2017
De-Accesioned artifacts from the North Vancouver Museum and Archives
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill
Improve
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill – Improve, 2017
De-accessioned artifacts from the North Vancouver Museum and Archives
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill
Dispersal
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill – Dispersal, 2019
Virginia tobacco, perique tobacco, thread, seed pods, support stocking, wood, found pole
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill
Be Long
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill – Be Long, 2017
De-accessioned artifacts from the North Vancouver Museum and Archives
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill
Idle Sun Chair
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill – Idle Sun Chair, 2016
Scrap metal, gloves, socks, and gravel
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill
Rare Coins
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill – Rare Coins, 2017
Rebar, steel pipe, antennae, paper, marker, beer can tabs
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill
Disintegration
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill – Disintegration, 2019
Virginia tobacco, perique tobacco, seed pods, thread, wood, found pole
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill
Trade
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill – Trade, 2019
Pantyhose, tobacco, beer and tab, wildflower, thread
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill
Cousin
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill – Cousin, 2019
Pantyhose, tobacco, thistle, spider charm, dandelion, thread
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill
Spell #11, for cages
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill – Spell #11, for cages, 2019
Tobacco-infused crisco oil, oil paint, magazine cutouts, cigarette, thread, tobacco flower, beer can tab
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill
Spell #10, for unsticking
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill – Spell #10, for unsticking, 2019
Tobacco-infused crisco oil, oil paint, magazine cutouts, snake charm, tobacco flower, beer can tab, thread
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill
Spell #9, sunrise on clark
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill – Spell #9, sunrise on clark, 2019
Tobacco-infused crisco oil, oil paint, wildflowers, tobacco flower, magazine cutout, spider charm, thread
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill
Spell #8, sunset on clark
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill – Spell #8, sunset on clark, 2019
Tobacco-infused crisco oil, oil paint, wildflowers, beer can tab, tape
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill
Spell #7, those streets are gone
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill – Spell #7, those streets are gone, 2019
Tobacco-infused crisco oil, oil paint, magazine cutouts, charm, beer can tab, thread
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill
Spell #6, at the bus stop
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill – Spell #6, at the bus stop, 2019
Tobacco-infused crisco oil, oil paints, magazine cutouts, tobacco flower
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill
Spell #5, tony’s story
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill – Spell #5, tony’s story, 2019
Tobacco-infused crisco oil, oil paints, tobacco flower, tobacco pendant, magazine cutouts, thread
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill
Spell #4, Billow
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill – Spell #4, Billow, 2019
Tobacco-infused crisco oil, oil paint, tobacco flower, tobacco pendant, magazine cut outs, thread
