Venus as Torpedo: A Journey of Complexity and Simplicity
The AGO’s new art exhibit conveys a bridge between cultures and a mix of different ideas.
Visual art present in art galleries such as sculptures is a great way to communicate complex ideas nonverbally through the use of material and design. On August 16, 2025 the Art Gallery of Ontario unveiled a new exhibit titled Venus as Torpedo created by Kanai (Blood) Nation sculptor Faye Heavyshield. The exhibit is based on a previous original installation from 1995 which has been re-staged nearly three decades later offering audiences the chance to revisit one of Heavyshield’s most impressive displays of memory, language and presence. The fact that this exhibit is being recreated at the AGO is significant in itself for marking HeavyShields first solo exhibit at the AGO, one of Canada’s largest and most popular art institutions.
This context results in HeavyShield’s work speaking not only to her own cultural narrative but opens the door for greater recognition towards Indigenous female artists within the Canadian art community. Venus as Torpedo demonstrates both continuity and resurgence, matching Heavyshields artistic style involving minimal aesthetics and a deep engagement with Blackfoot cultural traditions.
Faye HeavyShield was born in 1953 in the Blood Reserve, Alberta. She studied at the Alberta College of Art and Design and has decades of sculpting experience. In addition to this, she is the recipient of the 2021 Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Distinguished Artist Award. Her practice is primarily characterized by combining the messages of restraint and resonance.
The piece Venus as Torpedo is simple and unsettling at the same time as it depicts clothing arranged across a structure resembling ribs that extends low from the gallery wall and rests above a wooden floor. The exhibit is made up of clothes, including garments from loved ones, used as the frames with each garment being hand dyed in red ochre; an iron rich pigment known for its reddish brown colour and distinctive warmth. The result of the clothing material is that the exhibit feels like it’s communicating to the audience using the voices of women of the English and Blackfoot languages prompting the viewers to feel closer. The piece is both bodily due to its material choice of garments and architectural through how the garments are assorted to create one structure. It grounds itself in the ideas of intimacy, family and language. The piece resonates even stronger due to its placement in the AGO’s Canadian and Indigenous gallery and bridges the Blackfoot traditions to a national audience in Toronto. This bridging of worlds highlights how indigenous voices have become central to conversations about memory and land in contemporary art institutions.
Throughout her career, HeavyShield has had a signature practice of combining both restraint and resonance in her artwork. She develops her minimalist style by drawing from repetition, modest material and the Blackfoot worldview. HeavyShield has said “Blackfoot is my first language, art is my second,” emphasizing the idea that artworks like Venus as Torpedo are speaking to you via their material and design. The cloth, voice and red pigment are speaking together in a work communicating an idea of both the presence and absence of Blackfoot culture.
Venus as Torpedo allows HeavyShield to bring a cadence or flow of Blackfoot culture into dialogue. Its debut at the AGO affirms both her voice and the growing space for female Indigenous artists in Canada. The exhibit is available to be viewed through now until February 22, 2026.
