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Rebecca Belmore: March 5, 1819

May 2, 2018

Rebecca Belmore, video still from March 5, 1819. Collection of McMaster Museum of Art

McMaster Museum of Art proudly presents:

Rebecca Belmore: March 5, 1819

McMaster Museum of Art Collection | Panabaker Gallery | May 10 – August 18, 2018

Since 1987, Anishinaabe artist Rebecca Belmore has addressed history, place, and identity through her consistently powerful and provocative multi-disciplinary works of art.

March 5, 1819 is a recently acquired video work that considers the frantic final moments before Demasduit, a young Beothuk woman (later renamed Mary March) is captured by colonists at Red Indian Lake in Newfoundland. Her husband Nonosabasut dies trying to save her.

Belmore’s re-enactment of this historical moment in contemporary dress, places the viewer into the middle of the event – as both witness and perpetrator – effectively bringing the historical struggle of Indigenous peoples in Canada viscerally into the present.

Rebecca Belmore (Anishinaabe/Canadian) is internationally recognized for her performance and installation art. Belmore was Canada’s official representative at the 2005 Venice Biennale (see short documentary below), received the Governor General’s Award for Visual and Media Art in 2013, and was awarded the 2016 Gershon Iskowitz Prize.

Rebecca Belmore: “Fountain” from Elisha Burrows on Vimeo.

Rebecca Belmore, video still from March 5, 1819. Collection of McMaster Museum of Art
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Link to News Archive for a complete list of past news articles

M(M)A Education Staff Teresa Gregorio Shortlisted in City of Hamilton’s Arts Champion Awards
June 23, 2026

Please join us in congratulating M(M)A’s Educator for Campus & Community Engagement, Teresa Gregorio, for being shortlisted in the Arts Champion Awards in City of Hamilton’s Arts Award 2026. The Arts Champion Awards may be conferred annually to living individuals who are outstanding supporters of the arts in Hamilton as volunteers, advocates, or board members. […]

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New Acquisitions from Open Studio
June 19, 2026

McMaster Museum of Art M(M)A and Open Studio are pleased to announce that M(M)A has acquired three works by Carl Beam, Janet Cardiff, and Rita Letendre from Open Studio’s historic archive collection through its Print Sales program. These works now enter M(M)A’s Permanent Collection. About Open Studio: Open Studio was founded in 1970 and is […]

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M(M)A Education Staff Nicole Knibb Receive President’s Awards for Outstanding Service in 2025
June 8, 2026

Please join us in congratulating M(M)A’s Senior Educator (Academic and Professional Engagement) and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Family Medicine, Nicole Knibb, for receiving the President’s Awards for Outstanding Service in 2025.  Nicole Knibb has made a profound and lasting contribution to interdisciplinary education, community engagement, and inclusive pedagogy at McMaster University. Through her leadership at the McMaster […]

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