Ayum-ee-aawach Oomama-mowan: Speaking to Their Mother

Parliament Hill (111 Wellington Street, Ottawa)
Thursday, June 12, 2025, 10AM–5PM

SAW Outdoor Courtyard (67 Nicholas Street, Ottawa)
Thursday, June 12, 2025, 8PM–midnight

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Ayum-ee-aawach Oomama-mowan: Speaking to Their Mother is presented as part of the national artist-run centre gathering Against the Current / Wàbi mikanàwàn.

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Special reception: Thursday, June 12, 8PM–midnight
SAW (67 Nicholas Street, Ottawa)

Catering by BanhMiYes

Free admission and cash bar

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In 1991, the internationally recognized artist Rebecca Belmore created Ayum-ee-aawach Oomama-mowan: Speaking to Their Mother in response to the Oka Crisis. Commissioned by the Walter Phillips Gallery and constructed at the Banff Centre in Alberta, the participatory installation takes the form of a giant wooden megaphone inspired by the birch-bark cones traditionally used to call moose in Northern Ontario. The work was first presented by SAW at Parliament Hill in 1992.

As part of Against the Current / Wàbi mikanàwàn, the sixth biennial gathering of the Artist-Run Centres and Collectives Conference (ARCA), SAW invites you to engage with Belmore's landmark work. Ayum-ee-aawach Oomama-mowan will be accessible on Parliament Hill during the day and open for activation in the SAW Outdoor Courtyard at night. 

Indigenous artists, cultural workers and members of the public will be called upon to speak truth to power through this vital work. Ayum-ee-aawach Oomama-mowan opens up a space for Indigenous audiences to tell their stories and communicate to, from and with the land. This interactive work conveys Indigenous voices as a powerful medium for expression, connection and intervention — the medium is the message.

SAW is situated on the traditional, unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabe peoples. The Against the Current gathering will be hosted at the NCC River House, the Ottawa Art Gallery’s Alma Duncan Salon, AXENÉO7 and SAW, connecting delegates to important cultural and natural sites on both sides of the Kichi Sibi (Ottawa River), while recognizing and honouring the Algonquin land on which we will gather. 

About the artist

Rebecca Belmore is an Anishinaabe multidisciplinary artist currently based in Vancouver. She is a member of the Lac Seul First Nation, Kenora District, Ontario, Canada. Belmore's artistic practice encompasses sculpture, installation, video, photography and performance. Central to her work is the body in relation to history, place and Indigeneity. Drawing from the political and social realities of Indigenous communities, her compelling works make evocative connections between bodies, land and language. Belmore's art emphasizes Indigenous presence through visual storytelling and creative protest.

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Partner: Walter Phillips Gallery, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity

Funders: City of Ottawa, Canada Council for the Arts, Government of Canada, Ontario Arts Council, Government of Ontario, Ontario Trillium Foundation, Bilingual Ottawa, Association des communautés francophones d’Ottawa (ACFO Ottawa) and Ottawa Community Foundation

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Against the Current / Wàbi mikanàwàn

Partners: Artist-Run Centres and Collectives Conference (ARCA), AXENÉO7, Indigenous Curatorial Collective (ICCA), Association des groupes en arts visuels francophones (AGAVF), Gallery 101, Asinabka Film and Media Arts Festival, Regroupement des centres d'artistes autogérés du Québec (RCAAQ), Artist-Run Centres and Collectives of Ontario (ARCCO), Canadian Artists’ Representation/Le Front des artistes canadiens (CARFAC), Debaser, Artengine, Ottawa Fringe Festival, DAÏMÔN, L’Imagier Art Centre, Australian High Commission Canada and Ottawa Art Gallery