Exhibition catalogue for Material Culture: Innovation in Native Art, held from August 15 - October 25, 2000 at the Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art.

Showcased contemporary Indigenous artwork from:

Rebecca Belmore, Ted Garner, Mike MacDonald, Duane Slick, and C. Maxx Stevens.

"The five artists featured in Material Culture: Innovation in Native Art seek to reconcile traditional cultural and aesthetic values with Contemporary artistic practices. At first, this goal may seem contradictory. Contemporary art has historically glorified the position of the individual within-and oftentimes in opposition to-industrial Western society. Native cultures, on the other hand, celebrate lifestyles that are both rural and communal. Individuals exist within a particular societal network and are tied to a specific geographic place. Rural urban, individual/communal-these dichotomies are invoked when cultural differences between Native and non-Native communities are discussed. The idea that these positions are mutually exclusive is Illusory, but firmly entrenched in the popular consciousness, and presents a barrier for understanding of Native Contemporary art." (p. 4)