Luwa Wihe | she gives it to them

artLAB Gallery, Department of Visual Arts, Western University

River Object 1, River Object 2, River Object 3, River Object 4, and Portal, 2026. 3D printed pit-fired ceramic vessels. Sensor-based threshold between Twaskohu (Second Life sim) and artLAB Photography

Luwa Wihe | she gives it to them
Cassie Packham, MFA Candidate

July 30 – August 13, 2026
artLAB Gallery, London

To give is to send something across a distance and trust what returns. Luwa Wihe dwells in the space between two worlds that were never built to meet—the physical and the virtual, the human and what is not—and in the slow exchange of gifts that passes between Cassie Packham and space/opal. What is given is never what comes back. The passage changes it.

Here, form is made where there is no gravity to hold it, and carried into matter that bears the marks of the crossing. Image becomes object becomes image again. The river is read aloud. Sound rises from the objects where they are met. Clay holds what was never clay, and the seam is left open, not closed. Through gesture, material, sound, and patience, the work traces what becomes possible when relation is offered across a threshold not made to receive it … and answered anyway.

Not everything here is shown. Some of it is given elsewhere, to someone else, and only its return is visible. Some of it is felt before it is found. What passes between is not always something you can see—and that, too, is the work.

Learn more >

Visit the exhibition in-world.

Response 2, 2026. PLA 3D printed form

About the Artist

Cassie Packham (Onoyota’a:ka) is an artist‑researcher working at the intersections of Indigenous futurism, digital sovereignty, and relational world‑building. Through machinima, generative systems, and virtual environments, she creates spaces of care, kinship, and digital continuity. Their practice bridges land‑based knowledge with emerging technologies to imagine sovereign futures across interconnected worlds.

www.cassiemdp.space
www.space-opal.space
@cassiemdp

Installation view, Luwa Wihe | she gives it to them, artLAB Gallery

About the Gallery

Located in the John Labatt Visual Arts Centre at Western University, the artLAB Gallery and Cohen Commons, are vital facilities within the Department of Visual Arts. Our primary focus is to act as a pedagogical tool, to support student and faculty-led research and production. Exhibitions provide a platform to respond to pertinent social and cultural issues, and/or explore conceptual, formal and material-based interests. Able to accommodate a wide range of media, both the artLAB and Cohen Commons provide space for professionalization, as well as experimental approaches to exhibition making.

Western University is located on the traditional lands of the Anishinaabek, Haudenosaunee, Lūnaapéewak, and Neutral (Chonnonton) peoples, on lands connected to several Treaties including Treaty 6 London Township, Treaty 7 Sombra Township, Treaty 21 Longwoods and the Dish with One Spoon Covenant Wampum. This place continues to be home to diverse Indigenous peoples who are recognized as contemporary stewards of the land and vital contributors to society.

artLAB Gallery
John Labatt Visual Arts Centre
Western University
1151 Richmond Street
London, ON N6A 3K7
www.uwo.ca/visarts/artlab
artlab@uwo.ca
519-661-2111 ext 85855

Instagram @westernuvisarts
Facebook @westernuVisArts

Gallery Hours:
Monday – Friday, 12 – 5pm

Accessibility:
artLAB Gallery is fully accessible.

Image Descriptions:

1. A dimly lit room contains a minimalist sculptural installation. At the center, a long wooden plank rests horizontally across two simple metal sawhorses, forming a makeshift table. Four dark, irregularly shaped ceramic objects sit spaced evenly along the plank. To the left is a single bulb rising from the table on a stand.

2. A gallery installation features a white sculptural object displayed on a square pedestal in the foreground. Mounted on the wall behind the pedestal are three rectangular artworks arranged horizontally. The central piece is the largest and shows an image of a textured, undulating surface resembling an abstract landscape or terrain. Embedded within this terrain is a vertical columnar form that visually echoes the shape of the sculpture in front of it.

3. A contemporary gallery space is shown. On the right, a clean white wall displays centered text in a simple sans‑serif font. The text reads: “Luwa Wihe | she gives it to them, Cassie Packham, in collaboration with space/opal.” Beneath the text is a square black‑and‑white QR code. To the left, a digital projection fills another wall with softly shifting colors resembling an aurora. The hues blend in gradients of purple, blue, green, and teal.