“Resurrection” and “Traces of Beings” exhibitions open for viewing at MJM&AG
The Moose Jaw Museum and Art Gallery (MJM&AG) continues to bring amazing and diverse art to the community. Two riveting exhibitions, Kevin McKenzie’s “Resurrection” and Tori Foster’s “Traces of Beings” exhibitions will be running until April 29th. The community can visit the museum and view the exhibitions that are both thought-provoking and visually stimulating.
The exhibition presents powerful sculptural installations, consisting of resin-cast buffalo skulls illuminated by neon and LED lights by Cree/Métis Saskatchewan artist Kevin McKenzie. McKenzie positions Indigenous spiritual motifs in dialogue with Christian symbolism, inviting viewers to consider the impact of Christianity on Indigenous cultures, post-colonial notions of hybridity in terms of identity, as well as, alienation, technology and cultural commodification. McKenzie says the work stems from his mixed cultural backgrounds which is Cree/ Metis and Roman Catholicism. “Growing up, I was exposed to both of these backgrounds and so this work fused the two and explores aspects of each culture; it’s a combination of both ideologies. This includes work from as far back as 2003. They represent both parts of me.” McKenzie is Cree/Métis, born and raised in Regina. His family is a member of the Cowessess First Nation of Saskatchewan. McKenzie received his BFA, and is currently a candidate for the MFA program, at the University of Regina. He has participated in residencies at the Banff Centre for the Arts, the Indian Art Centre, Sâkêwêwak First Nations Artist Collective Inc. and the Department of Visual Arts, University of Regina.
In regards to Tori Foster’s exhibition,
spans work from over the years in which she combines photography, art, sculpture and video to create an appealing display of pieces reflecting movements in time and space. Her work in photography, kinetic sculpture and video is based on logic and rigorous recording of data over time. Her everyday subject matter – city rush hour traffic patterns, people moving through public transit, a street- car stop over 24 hours, primary satellite recording techniques and a New York streetscape – become documents of the ephemeral, mysterious and moving poetry of ordinary life.
“The collection is a number of different bodies of work that span 2009 to 2016. Each of the pieces, in some way, covers the idea of emergent behavior and movements through space. My work is dictated more by the process than the final manifestation so I’m interested in a particular idea, then figuring out how to mediate the data that contributes to that particular subject matter. The final piece may be video, photography or a sculpture,” explained Foster.
Foster is originally from Toronto where she earned a MFA and BFA from Ryerson University, She was Assistant Professor and the Head of Video/Digital Art at California State University, Northridge in Los Angeles. She has received dozens of grants and awards, including a New Media Research and Production grant from the Canada Council for the Arts in 2016. She has shown work in 16 countries worldwide, including Canada, Germany, India, Korea, Australia, Brazil, and the USA, and her work is held in numerous public, private and corporate collections. Foster is currently based in Barrie, Ontario.