Mary Longman (Aski-piyesiwishwew), a Saulteaux, was born in Fort Qu’Appelle in 1964. She studied at the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design, Concordia University, and at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, where she graduated with an MFA in 1993. Longman then pursued doctoral studies at the University of British Columbia, where she specialized in contemporary First Nations art in Canada. Her two- and three-dimensional work explores issues concerning suicide, adoption, the AIDS crisis, and land claims. Longman has shown her art in a number of group and solo shows including Reservation X at the Canadian Museum of Civilization in 1998, and Saskdiaspora at the Dunlop Gallery in 1999. She is the recipient of several awards, including a Canada Council award and a Canadian Native Arts Foundation Award.

Carmen Robertson