Exhibitions open at SAAG

The Southern Alberta Art Gallery has announced its presentation of two exhibitions this fall, including “Xenogenesis” by The Otolith Group and “Tsima Kohtotsitapiihpa Where Are You From” by Lauren Crazybull.

The exhibitions will be on view from today through Nov. 15. Guests are encouraged to book their gallery visit in advance at saag.ca/visit. There will also have virtual tours of the exhibitions available on the SAAG website soon.

“Xenogenesis” is the first large-scale exhibition of The Otolith Group presented in Canada, as part of an international exhibition tour organized by the Vanabbemuseum in Eindhoven, N.L. The exhibition includes artworks produced between 2011 and 2018. The collective was founded by artist Anjalika Sagar and theorist Kodwo Eshun in 2002.

“Xenogenesis” is named after Octavia Butler’s Xenogenesis Trilogy, which consists of “Dawn. Xenogenesis: 1, Adulthood Rites;” “Xenogenesis:

2;” and “Imago. Xenogenesis: 3.” As a pioneering African American female science fiction novelist, Butler’s award-winning novels investigated questions of human extinction, racial distinction, planetary transformation, enforced mutation, generative alienation and altered kinship.

“Tsima Kohtotsitapiihpa Where Are You From” includes the handpainted map of Indigenous territories now known as Treaty 6, 7, and 8 territories of Alberta, traversed by Crazybull, Alberta’s 2019 Artist in Residence. The photographic documentation of this journey culminated in a book created by the artist, and an audio soundscape by Crazybull, featuring a score by musician Matthew Cardinal.

Crazybull’s mural “Granny Dora” is presented in the eastfacing window of the SAAG.