
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).
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill
The Milk of Dreams, 59th Venice Biennale
The Milk of Dreams, 59th Venice Biennale, 2022
Venice, Italy
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill
La Position de L’Amour, Le Magasin CNAC
La Position de L’Amour, Le Magasin CNAC, 2022
Grenoble, France
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill
We Yes Are Meat
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
Last Hot Days, 2022
Tobacco-infused Crisco, pigment, paper cutouts, dried flowers, blackberries, on paper
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Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill
Exit
Exit, 2022
Tobacco-infused Crisco, pigment, paper cutouts, blackberries, dried flowers
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Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill
Entrance
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
Dandelions, 2022
Tobacco-infused Crisco, oil pigments, on paper
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Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill
Before
Before, 2022
Tobacco-infused Crisco, pigment, paper cutouts, press on nail, on paper
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Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill
Counterblaste
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
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
X-tend, 2021
Pantyhose, tobacco, thread, dried flowers, and rabbit fur
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Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill
Wave
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
Spread, 2021
Pantyhose, tobacco, thread, charms, and rabbit fur
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Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill
Herald
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
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
Four effigies for the end of property, Kenderdine Art Gallery, 2020
Saskatoon, Canada
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill
Preempt
Preempt, 2017
De-accessioned artifacts from the North Vancouver Museum and Archives
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill
The Highest and Best Use
The Highest and Best Use, 2017
De-Accesioned artifacts from the North Vancouver Museum and Archives
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill
Improve
Improve, 2017
De-accessioned artifacts from the North Vancouver Museum and Archives
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill
Dispersal
Dispersal, 2019
Virginia tobacco, perique tobacco, thread, seed pods, support stocking, wood, found pole
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill
Be Long
Be Long, 2017
De-accessioned artifacts from the North Vancouver Museum and Archives
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill
Idle Sun Chair
Idle Sun Chair , 2016
Scrap metal, gloves, socks, and gravel
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill
Rare Coins
Rare Coins, 2017
Rebar, steel pipe, antennae, paper, marker, beer can tabs
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill
Disintegration
Disintegration, 2019
Virginia tobacco, perique tobacco, seed pods, thread, wood, found pole
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill
Trade
Trade, 2019
Pantyhose, tobacco, beer and tab, wildflower, thread
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill
Cousin
Cousin, 2019
Pantyhose, tobacco, thistle, spider charm, dandelion, thread
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill
Spell #11, for cages
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
Spell #4, Billow, 2019
Tobacco-infused crisco oil, oil paint, tobacco flower, tobacco pendant, magazine cut outs, thread