Beat Nation Remixes Art, Hip Hop and Aboriginal Culture

Breakdancers, snowshoe skateboards, lowrider bikes on display at Vancouver Art Gallery exhibit

Beadwork, carvings and powwow drumming are all part of a new exhibit that opens at the Vancouver Art Gallery, Feb. 25-but not in the forms one might expect.

Instead, visitors to Beat Nation: Art, Hip Hop and Aboriginal Culture will see a beaded MacBook Pro electrical cord, skateboards carved to resemble old-fashioned snowshoes and a video of a breakdancer busting moves to traditional drumbeats.

"They all carry echoes of their ancestors in their work, but they are very much creating their own path and they very much are expressing the liberty to define themselves," said Tania Willard, co-curator of the show.

The VAG's version of Beat Nation builds on a 2008 initiative of the Grunt Gallery that Willard, a Secwepemc artist and graphic designer, co-curated with multidisciplinary artist Skeena Reece, who's featured in performance regalia in the signature image for the exhibition.

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