CONFLUENCE
The Cube
September 8 to November 3, 2012
Curated by Craig Willms, Kamloops Art Gallery
Ernie Kroeger brings together historical and contemporary images in an examination of the confluence of the North and South Thompson rivers, a natural phenomenon that has been central to the shaping of Kamloops. Confluence traces Kamloops’ history through text and photographs, speaking to the city’s historical relationship to the rivers. The word “Kamloops” is derived from the Shuswap word “Tk'?mlúps,” meaning “confluence.” The text portion of the exhibition reveals the many iterations of the city’s name, sourced from signs, books, magazines, encyclopaedias, local historical accounts, and the Internet. The images include a collection of archival photographs from the Kamloops Museum and archives across Canada as well as recent digital photographs and imagery taken from Google Earth. Together, the images and text form a narrative that creates a kind of memory map of the river valley. The exhibition investigates a locale that is intrinsic to Kamloops’ identity and embedded in the cultural fabric of this place. The project comes together as Kamloops celebrates its bicentennial throughout 2012.
Charles Gentile
Hudson Bay Depot Kamloops (detail), 1865
digital copy of albumen print
Library Archives Canada (C-88903)
