Starting Over...Again

February 11, 2021 – March 13, 2021

Starting over…again. Certainly a sign of the times as we navigate the unchartered realities of a global pandemic. The anticipation of taking one step forward towards a degree of normalcy, only to be followed by two steps back. Uncertainty, fragility, humility are the words that resonate as we turn the calendar longing for a new beginning.

Starting Over…Again, February 11 – March 13, 2021, is a multi-generational group exhibition celebrating the power of art and community. The show takes us on a journey, from ashes to renewal and reminds us that hope prevails even in times of uncertainty and despair. We embark on our voyage in the quiet winter landscape of Katherine Takpannie’s self-portrait, Amautik.

Her steps become ours as we move towards the dancing light of the qulliq in the adjacent photograph and onwards to the charred remains of Angela Graueholz’ stacked Privation books. The wafting smoke still lingers in Kelly Mark’s Smoke Buddies.

Like the phoenix rising from the ashes a new beauty is revealed in the transformation of the objects. We pause at Ken Nicol’s typed and handwritten diptych this is your life…[and it’s ending one minute at a time]. The quote taken from the popular culture 90’s movie Fight Club starring Brad Pitt, we are reminded of the overall fragility of our existence and the importance to live by the Latin mantra carpe diem. This is further echoed in the shredded photo works by Barbara Steinman, Strands II lightbox and photograph Strands: Seven Seas No.3.

The process of shredding the emotional baggage that weighs us down actually releases us from the anxiety and power it holds. Like the solitary wolf in John McEwen’s Rilke’s Elegy, we pay tribute to the past and acknowledge our internal awakening as we shed our cocoons and begin a new life cycle like the monarchs in Matt Donovan’s Lego mosaic.

We float peacefully gravitating towards the words of hope in Robert Fones canvas The prince of light and onwards to the kaleidoscope-like depictions of modern suburbia in Meaghan Hyckie’s meticulously executed drawings. There we are greeted by the outstretched lilac arms of Tim Whiten’s mother Mary in the mystical sculpture Hallelujah and our travels come full circle in Katherine Takpannie’s photograph of Inuit throat singers, Kattajaq, when we can come together again with a smile and warm embrace after a time of social distancing. The power of art and community has restored us as we prepare for our next journey.