SINCE THEN
Kent Monkman
Peter Morin
Lisa Myers
Jude Norris
Rúrí
Justin Sorensen
Derek Sullivan
Ione Thorkelsson
Rachael Thorleifson
Chih-Chien Wang
Christopher Wool
Rebecca Belmore
Dana Claxton
Leah Decter
Demian Dinéyazhi'
Mark Emerak
Cliff Eyland
Félix González-Torres
Helga Jakobson
Garry Neill Kennedy
Janet Kigusiuq
Cheryl L'Hirondelle
Central Gallery
September 23 to December 30, 2017
Curated by Kegan McFadden
Postulating what the future might hold, this exhibition looks to histories of survival as a starting point for a conversation about the possibilities of endurance, cross-cultural exchange and legacy. By looking at artwork that depicts survival, that alludes to hybridity and transformation, and that carries with it the physical markers of distress as part of their conceptual make-up, Since Then challenges preconceived notions of what it is to endure from both a historical and a contemporary point of view.
The artworks featured in Since Then are in turn humorous, confounding and rooted in an awareness of colonial violence. Themes such as water, literature, mythologies and time travel are prevalent, as are factual accounts of hardships. These themes emerge and are explored through a variety of media including video, photography, works on paper, performance and site-specific installation in order to inform this conversation concerning an aesthetics of survival. How is the road forward paved with stories of what has come before? What has happened Since Then?
This sprawling, multi-faceted group exhibition poses questions about what it means to survive and how the markers of survival sometimes, necessarily, force a dialogue about its opposite.
Published in response to this research is a special issue of CV2, The Canadian Journal of Poetry and Critical Writing, featuring a 16-page visual art supplement of work from Since Then as well as an exploratory text by the curator.
Artist and independent curator Tania Willard has also curated a performance series in response to Since Then, to be presented over the course of the exhibition.
Since Then was originally produced in Winnipeg for núna (now) – Icelandic Canada Art Convergence, as part of their 10th anniversary programming in 2016.
Generously sponsored by Funk Signs Inc.
Peter Morin
Experiments in Time Travel (detail), 2015
mixed media installation (photographs, hand drums, LED lights, found objects, altered porcelain, stone, deer antler, performance)
Courtesy of the Artist
