Exhibition Opening | Damien Eagle Bear: when you see it
Exhibition Opening | Damien Eagle Bear: when you see it, at Contemporary Calgary.
Damien Eagle Bear. when you see it (film still), 2026. Video, sound, 5'. Courtesy of the artist. Exhibition Opening Damien Eagle Bear: when you see it October 22 6-9 PM Please join us on Thursday, October 22, from 6-9 PM, as we celebrate the opening of Damien Eagle Bear: when you see it . As the third artist in our Ksahkomiitapiiks residency, Damien Eagle Bear draws on his experience as a documentary filmmaker, challenging the formal standards of the medium to embrace a Blackfoot gaze of the land. Guided by Mentor Faye HeavyShield, when you see it contemplates a personal and cultural relationship to the land. Audiences are asked to confront their own comprehensions and connections to the land through these portraits of significant areas in Blackfoot territory. Doors 6:00 PM Remarks 6:30 PM | Atrium In-Conversation with artist Damien Eagle Bear and mentor Faye HeavyShield 7:00 PM | Heather Edwards Theatre Galleries Close 9:00 PM FREE to the public. No registration is required. Seating for In-Conversation with artist Damien Eagle Bear and mentor Faye HeavyShield will be first come, first served. About the Artist Damien Eagle Bear (he/him) Niitsitapii. Amateur Physicist. Frybread eating machine. Damien Eagle Bear is an award-winning filmmaker from the Kainai First Nation of the Blackfoot Confederacy, whose work explores the themes of belonging and Indigenous resilience. His work includes documentaries, mockumentaries, music videos, short films, and web series. His skill set includes directing, screenwriting, producing, editing, and cinematography. Damien has gained support for his projects from Telus originals, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Telefilm, Indigenous Screen Office, Creative BC, and the Canada Council for the Arts. Damien's first feature documentary, #skoden, creates a three-dimensional portrait of Pernell Bad Arm, a man whose image was stolen for a viral meme; had its world premiere at Hot Docs in 2025, winning the Earl A. Glick Emerging Filmmaker Award, Vancouver Film Studios Award for Best BC Director at DOXA 2025 and Best Feature Film at the Oki Corral Film Festival. Damien’s work explores the themes of belonging and Indigenous resilience. His appreciation of the cinematographic art form leads him to work in multiple positions on projects, often digging his hands into the process of making each film. About Ksahkomiitapiiks (Earth Beings) Begun in 2022, Ksahkomiitapiiks is an annual, Indigenous artist residency focusing on responsive practices and dynamic public programs that interrogate and nurture our relationships with the land. Interpreted in English as Earth Beings, Ksahkomiitapiiks, is both a noun and a verb: embodying who we are and what we create as guests on this earth. Spoken aloud, it is an invocation — a blessing, a call for prayer, witness, and inspiration. The residency is conceived as an active land acknowledgement, offering an alternative to static statements. It is intended as a process of collective learning – an opportunity for all peoples to reflect on our shared responsibilities as custodians of the land. Through ongoing dialogue with the advisory committee and local Indigenous communities, we have come to understand that land-based knowledge is alive and resilient – carried within the body, collective memory, and the land itself. It is intuited and learned through observation and care, and is rooted in a relationship of stewardship, not ownership. Across cultures and histories, people have long lived in close relationship with the natural world, guided by practices of care, reciprocity, and respect for the land. Ksahkomiitapiiks was developed to create space for new generations of Indigenous artists to deepen that reconnection, to generate new knowledge, and to carry forward ancestral languages, practices, and relationships with the land. Ksahkomiitapiiks is developed in consultation with an Advisory Committee of Indigenous Community Members and Elders. This year’s Advisory Committee consisted of Faye HeavyShield, Clarence Wolfleg Sr., Adrian Stimson, and Lauren Crazybull. Faye HeavyShield was the mentor of this year’s edition of the residency.
701 11 Street Southwest, Calgary, AB
Thursday, October 22, 2026 at 6:00 p.m. to Thursday, October 22, 2026 at 10:00 p.m. (Calgary time)
Last checked: 2026-10-08T23:27:38.567Z