Art Gallery of Guelph

My Curiosities Are Not Your Curious

Sarah Cwynar
Hannah Doerksen
Deborah Edmeades
Faye HeavyShield
Lucy Tasseor Tutsweetok

September 14, 2017 – December 17, 2017

Art Gallery of Guelph

Bringing together cross-generational artists – Sara Cwynar (New York, NY); Hannah Doerksen (Calgary, AB); Deborah Edmeades (New York, NY/ Vancouver, BC); Faye HeavyShield (Blood Reserve, Alberta); and Lucy Tasseor Tutsweetok (d. 2012, Arviat, Nunavut) – each offers a contemporary perspective on the traditional “cabinet of curiosities,” complicating historical approaches to the use and display of objects. With collections that activate history, culture, and the land itself in their explorations of the politics of display, the artists highlight how these systems – and “curiosities” themselves – can also be powerful sources of alternative narratives. At once deeply personal and inherently political, the exhibition draws attention to collecting as a method of making, proposing strategies to destabilize and create new forms of knowledge.

 

All images courtesy the Art Gallery of Guelph


PRESS

○ Canadian Art
○ Art Gallery of Guelph
○ The Ontarion
○ Akin Collective