NDN Ironworkers

2018

“The most recent works in Claxton’s show are wonderfully celebratory. Spanning large-scale photographs, a commanding firebox and an engaging “video flipbook,” they feature a group of fit young men drawn from Vancouver’s community of Indigenous ironworkers. Completely defying any of the cultural stereotypes that might be assigned to them, they daily undertake demanding, dangerous and well-paid labour in the construction industry. NDN Ironworkers, 2018, depicts a line of eight young men, kitted out in their work gear, striding toward the camera and exuding what my fellow critic Beverly Cramp has identified as “pride, confidence and autonomy.”

Robin Laurence, for Border Crossings Magazine