Written by Alejandra Mantilla
Two new art exhibitions “Witnessing” and “Astral” are being held in the Kamloops Art Gallery.
Witnessing by Alicia Henry an exhibition that addresses racial challenges is being held in the Kamloops Art Gallery from October 1 to December 31, 2022. Another exhibition in the Cube located in the Store of the Kamloops Art Gallery is called Astral by Autumn Christopher from September 17 to December 31, 2022.
Alicia Henry is originally from Nashville, Tennessee she has an unconventional approach to displaying portraits. This is her first Canadian exposition, where she shows two-dimensional figures that register contexts and emotions. The artist has used the face to represent something hidden, exposed, and performed.
The composition materials used in this exhibition are felt, canvas, leather, paperboard, and other textiles. In the exposition, dark-toned figures show stories of colonialism and remember racial traumas suffered by distinct groups of people over centuries.
The inspiration behind Henry’s compositions has different references, from memories, a collection of West African masks, events, and experiences. The composure of her art the multigeneration survivors release a powerful strength and confidence through their gaze. Henry as a Black woman portrays her figures with a personal perspective and cultural nuance.
In a conversation with Alicia Henry and Diana Augaitis, they talk about her exposition of witnessing. The artist layers her portraits, and she explains “they give me the possibility to explore so much: the materials themselves, or the sense of successive emotions or feelings, or certain aspects of who we are and what we reveal.”
In her art and faces, she tries to make connections with people that she has seen, with references to her family and she can recognize herself. Her connection to experiences like migration or loss is imprinted in her images and work for witnessing. Some pieces are missing parts or legs but she can communicate how different people can process things.
Henry as she puts it “creates Brown bodies” it brings attention to a different race and maybe causes people to ask the right questions about representation.
The exhibition is about evolution, it brings the visualization of a larger story, and shows faces with a new perspective on different fabrics and materials.
Astral by Autumn Christopher is an exploration of lucid dreams and astral projection. In this case, astral projecting is an out-of-body experience that is inspired by subconscious travel. The exposition includes paintings, animations, and images digitally created that capture the astral projection. The artist incorporates elements from Japanese anime and science fiction that immerses the viewer in the whole experience. The animation is surreal, and it creates an
embodied exploration of astral projection.
Through the experience, the animation has interesting elements that might not go together from someone’s perspective, but the work and excellent design make it enjoyable. The exposition of Astral at the Cube in a dark room with a projector that plays the animation in a loop makes the viewer feel immersed in the world created by the artist.
The curator of the Kamloops Art Gallery Charo Neville for the past eleven years wants to support artists and recognize their thoughtful practices. Curators are meant to select the art that is on display in a museum or gallery and interprets the works of art. An interview with the curator was held about her perspective on art and the exhibition “Witnessing”.
Q: What does it mean to be a curator to you?
“I see myself as a facilitator and supporter of artists’ work. It involves a balance and I think about representation. Ideas around equity, and thinking about racial oppression. I wanted an exhibition that would open those types of conversations. “
Q: How long in advance do you plan the exhibitions?
“They are plotted out when we are doing our grant writing which we just did, I plotted out until basically 2025 at this point. Then the details of each project happen within the six months period following the exhibition. I build relationships with artists. It looks seamless but there is so much involved, we have to coordinate shipping, the floor plan, and the layout.”
Q: Why did you choose Witnessing by Alicia Henry?
“I think she is a very important artist to think about at this moment and the idea of Witnessing is important right now.”
Charo describes the work of this exhibition and what are her favourite parts of this work:
“Something about the fragment, there is something ghostly about this work. Thinking about maybe people who suffer in their bodies it just brings up a lot. Think about the masks that we all wear, the way masks can be used to misunderstand or to reinterpret others. All those faces, she has taken leather and scrunched it up and dyed it and left it to dry in the sun. A lot of those faces
look like they are in anguish, it makes me think about the history of slavery and how that’s the trauma written on the body.”
Q: If there is anything that you value in an artist what is it?
“If you are born an artist, and you can tap into that and figure out the medium that you need to communicate whatever it is that’s really special.”
Q: Do you think that the art gallery in Kamloops is greatly appreciated?
“I do, I would love for more people to know about us. Our attendance has been really great, I think people who really value us know that this is a place of solace and reflection. It may be a challenging place to go to think. I would always love to know more people to know about us.”
Leave a Reply