Recent acquisitions on view at the National Gallery of
Canada
OTTAWA,
ON, July 30, 2024 /CNW/ - The National Gallery
of Canada (NGC) presents
HOME: A Space of Sharing and Strength, an exhibition
highlighting recent acquisitions made by the NGC that explore the
idea of home as a powerful but fragile site. Opening on
August 2, the exhibition will run
until December 15, 2024.
The six artists featured in the show – Sarah Anne Johnson (Winnipeg-based), Jimmy
Manning (Inuk, based in Kinngait [Cape Dorset]), Siwa Mgoboza (Hlubi, based in
Cape Town), Curtis Talwst Santiago
(Trinidadian heritage, based in Edmonton) Frank
Shebageget (Anishinaabe, based in Ottawa) and Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum (born in
Botswana, and now based in
The Hague) – depict the global
reach of art practices based in local and community concerns.
The 16 works on view, spanning photography, sculpture, painting
and print, were acquired by the National Gallery of Canada between 2020 and 2024.
HOME: A Space of Sharing and
Strength suggests that home is a place of respect,
enriched through shared experiences, values and memories. The
artists depict how communities resist destructive legacies of
government agendas by embracing cherished memories of home and
community, and how home can be a non-human, natural site that is
shared between species.
"This show invites visitors to spend time and reflect on the
meaning of home in today's context and understand how it might have
a different definition for different people. The artists we
highlight express home in diverse ways, inspired by their own
experiences and roots," said Andrea
Kunard, Senior Curator, Photographs
Collection at the NGC. "This exhibition is also a
unique occasion to discover in a shared space how NGC's newest
acquisitions reflect some of the most pressing concerns in
contemporary artistic practice."
"This exhibition presents these newly acquired works together in
dialogue with decolonial curatorial methods and dynamic critical
art practices rooted in concepts of place making and belonging,"
said Rachelle
Dickenson, Associate Curator, Indigenous Ways
and Decolonization at the NGC. "From Inuk,
Anishinaabe, Canadian and Hlubi artists comes an assemblage of
unique perspectives of the meaning of home, and we are pleased to
bring well-deserved attention to these artists at the NGC."
HOME: A Space of Sharing and Strength is
supported by the Scotiabank Photography Program at the NGC. It is
the result of a curatorial collaboration between the NGC's
Contemporary Art, Indigenous Ways & Decolonization (IWD) and
Photography curatorial departments represented by Andrea Kunard, Senior Curator, Photographs
Collection; Wahsontiio Cross, Rachelle Dickenson and Jocelyn Piirainen, Associate Curators, IWD;
Ooleepeeka Eegeesiak,
Curatorial Assistant, IWD; Stephanie
Burdzy, Assistant Curator, Contemporary Art and
Jasmine Inglis, Assistant
Curator, Contemporary Art and Photographs.
About the National Gallery of Canada
The National Gallery of Canada
(NGC) is dedicated to amplifying voices through art and extending
the reach and breadth of its collection, exhibitions program, and
public activities to represent all Canadians, while centring
Indigenous ways of knowing and being. Ankosé—an Anishinaabemowin
word that means "everything is connected"—reflects the Gallery's
mission to create dynamic experiences that open hearts and minds,
and allow for new ways of seeing ourselves, one another, and our
diverse histories, through the visual arts. NGC is home to a rich
contemporary Indigenous international art collection, as well as
important collections of historical and contemporary Canadian and
European art from the 14th to the 21st century. Founded in 1880,
NGC has played a key role in Canadian culture for more than 140
years. For more information, visit gallery.ca.
SOURCE National Gallery of Canada