Showing their world to the world
Labrador artists will bring depictions of their lives to Bonavista festival
Anyone familiar with Labrador knows if there’s one thing in which the region has no deficit, it’s in artists.
From carvers to painters to craftspeople of all sorts, the people of the Big Land have always captured their cultures, experiences, and landscape through art. This August, some of that artwork — specifically photography — from seven northern Labrador artists, will be showcased on the Bonavista Peninsula.
The artists will be taking part in the Bonavista Biennale, a bi-annual international contemporary arts festival that has been running since 2017. The theme of this year’s Biennale is “The Tonic of Wilderness,” and the Labrador artists will have their own exhibit, “Regeneration/ Piguttaugiallavalliajuk/ussanitauten.”
Sarah Agnew, co-executive director of the Biennale, said organizers are excited about the large-format photography exhibit; this is the first time they’ve featured a group of Labrador artists.
Agnew said the exhibition was made possible by funding available to create opportunities for artists who were lacking in prospects due to the COVID-19 pandemic or who were marginalized,
“We’ve had artists who were originally from Labrador exhibit (at the Biennale) before, but never had a chance to show Labrador artists together,” she said.
“It’s a great opportunity to be able to present a variety of Labrador artists, along with artists from other parts of the province and Canada on a bigger stage at a time when gallery exhibitions are falling apart, and museums are closed.”
Labrador art has been growing in popularity across the country in recent years, with major shows in Winnipeg, Montreal and Toronto, among others, and Agnew said this a great opportunity to showcase the same within this province.
Jessica Winters, the Special Project Co-ordinating Curator for Regeneration, said besides providing the Labrador artists more exposure on the island, this will help connect the art scenes in the two parts of the province.
Winters, who is from Makkovik and who previously curated “Saunituinnaulungitotluni/beyond Bone” by North West River carver Billy Gauthier at The Rooms in 2019, is excited for this opportunity to showcase northern Labrador artists in a non-traditional discipline.
“When people think of Labrador artwork, they tend to think carving, clothing, more traditional forms of Indigenous art,” she said. “I want to show a more modern form of interpreting the same values and morals that we have as Indigenous people.”
Winters said there are many artisans and craftspeople in Labrador who don’t see what they do as art; it’s just part of their day-to-day life. In fact, some of the artists who will be featured in the Biennale have never exhibited before.
Winters is hopeful this will provide validation for them and for other Labradorians who don’t think of themselves as artists.
Until a few years ago, one of those artists-in-hiding was Rigolet photographer Eldred Allen, whose work is featured in Regeneration. Allen owns and operates Bird’s Eye Inc., a Uav/drone company he started when he saw a business need for drone photography in the region. He began taking more and more photos capturing the landscape around him, particularly near his hometown of Rigolet, and posting them online.
He was eventually contacted by another Nunatsiavut artist in 2018 who told him he should submit some of his work for an exhibition called “Nunatsiavut: Our Beautiful Land” at La Guilde gallery in Montreal.
“Up until that point, I had never considered art or the art world or exhibitions or anything along those lines,” he said. “I had never considered myself an artist, and you hear that from a lot of people here. It’s just something they enjoy doing.”
These days, Allen, who also uses a handheld camera, is less of a novice, having exhibited and sold a number of his photos and 3D models over the last couple of years. This will be the sixth show in which his work has been exhibited, but he’s particularly excited to have his work in the Biennale, which draws people from all over the world and exposes the artists to many who may have never seen their work before.
“Regeneration” will be on display at the Quinton Premises, a heritage site in Red Cliff, Bonavista Bay, Aug.14 to Sept. 12.