Taylor Baptiste: q̓ayisxn—Off the Rocks exhibition
UBC Okanagan Gallery is excited to announce our next exhibition, q̓ayisxn – Off the Rocks, which showcases the contemporary sculptural forms of emerging Syilx artist Taylor Baptiste. q̓ayisxn – Off the Rocks is curated by UBC Okanagan Gallery Curator Dr. Stacey Koosel and Curatorial Assistant Ryan Trafananko.
Baptiste’s work combines the traditional practice of pictograph making with contemporary sculpture to bring the cultural teachings of her ancestors “off the rock” and into three-dimensional space. The exhibition, Baptiste’s second in the Okanagan, will feature two large-scale sculptures: How Turtle Set the Animal People Free (2023) and Flight of Union (2024). These larger-than-life installations, like much of Baptiste’s artistic practice, draw from the surrounding landscape, cultures and materials, and use a red ochre pigment to honour the stories, sites and stories of her ancestors.
Taylor Baptiste’s exhibition q̓ayisxn – Off the Rocks is open to the public from January 9 to 22, 2025 at the FINA Gallery located in the Creative and Critical Studies building on UBC Okanagan Campus.
About the Artist
Taylor Baptiste is an interdisciplinary artist from the Osoyoos Indian Band of the Okanagan Nation. She draws upon her upbringing in Nk’mip – a field of sagebrush and wild roses nestled between the mountains and Osoyoos Lake on the Osoyoos Indian Band reservation. Raised by Richard and Colleen Baptiste, her art practice is deeply rooted in her family, community and ancestral history. Moreover, she incorporates elements of Syilx storytelling and epistemologies, reflecting a connection to the land and waters of the Okanagan. Taylor graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Emily Carr University of Art & Design in 2024. Baptiste was an artist in residence and speaker at the 2024 Indigenous Art Intensive artist residency program at UBC Okanagan, an initiative in collaboration with UBC Okanagan Gallery.
