EMBRACING THE COLD AU CŒUR DU FROIS
Edited by Wahsontiio Cross and Jocelyn Piirainen. Texts by Katerina Atanassova and Anabelle Kienle Ponka
Winter Count | Compte d’hiver explores how this season has shaped Indigenous, Canadian settler and northern European art for generations. This captivating catalogue unites different cultural perspectives through winter themes related to storytelling, effects of light, physical adaptation, community and isolation, the texture of snow and abstract representation.
It also examines the surprising points of connection among a diverse group of artists who have shared an enduring fascination with winter and its related motifs, through objects, paintings, sculptures and works on paper.
Presenting a selection of works spanning from the early 19th to the mid-20th century, this bilingual catalogue features approximately 170 plates, along with illustrated essays by curators Wahsontiio Cross and Jocelyn Piirainen, Katerina Atanasova and Anabelle Kienla Ponka.
This book invites readers to see winter anew – not as a season to be endured but as a source of invention, connection and mutual respect across time and place.
Exhibition: National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, 21 November 2025 – 22 March 2026
