First Nations artists decry fashion brand

5.11.13

First Nations artists decry fashion brand: Unconnected to any exhibition on view at the MMFA, the line was created by Montreal art director Nathalie Benarroch, who isn’t of indigenous descent and who recently returned to Canada after two decades in the Paris fashion industry.

Some First Nations artists involved with the Beat Nation exhibition are not happy with the Inukt line, and are not shy about saying so.

“Inukt has a name that makes it sound like it is Inuit- or Northern-focused, and then what you get is a complete mishmash,” said Tania Willard, an artist from the Secwepemc Nation and one of the two curators of Beat Nation. “We have distinct nations; we are not pan-Indian, and you can’t just take our culture and art. Our ancestors fought to leave us their legacy, culture and esthetics — fought with their lives.”