Winter Count - Embracing the Cold

Exhibition catalogue for Winter Counts : Embracing the Cold, presented at the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa (21 November 2025 – 22 March 2026).

The catalogue reflects on the profound influence that winter exerts on various cultures and forms of artistic expression.

Winter Tales explores how this season has shaped the art of Indigenous peoples, Canadian settlers and artists from Northern Europe for generations. This captivating catalogue brings together different cultural perspectives through winter-themed themes relating to storytelling, the effects of light, physical adaptation, community and isolation, the texture of snow and abstract representation.

It also examines the surprising points of convergence among a diverse group of artists who share a lasting fascination with winter and its motifs, through objects, paintings, sculptures and works on paper.

Featuring a selection of works ranging from the early 19th century to the mid-20th century, this bilingual catalogue includes around 170 reproductions, accompanied by illustrated essays written by curators Wahsontiio Cross and Jocelyn Piirainen, as well as Katerina Atanasova and Anabelle Kienla Ponka. This book invites readers to rediscover winter – not as a season to be endured, but as a source of creativity, connection and mutual respect across time and space.