The Kootenay Gallery of Art features digital media art in its next exhibitions which open Aug. 4 at 7 p.m.
In the West Gallery, Class Act showcasing work by the students of the Digital Art and New Media program at Selkirk College will be on view while in the East Gallery, Haida/Swiss artist Stephen Foster will install Remediating Curtis. The theme of Foster’s exhibition will be enhanced with a reading by poet Jordan Abel later in the month.
Stephen Foster has researched how popular culture has traditionally misrepresented First Nations culture, such as the famous photographs of Edward Curtis.
At the turn of the last century, Curtis travelled the North American continent taking photos of the disappearing lifestyle of indigenous cultures.
While his photographs brought awareness to the settler culture of this immense cultural loss, Curtis often staged his photos and portrayed his subjects in a culturally-inaccurate manner. Foster used Curtis’ body of work as a starting point to examine the colonial legacy entrenched in mass-media and North American popular culture such as children’s toys and western films.
Foster has created an installation using video, sound and digital photo-montage to explore this topic. He will be in attendance at the opening on Aug. 4.
To complement Foster’s exhibition, the Kootenay Gallery is hosting a reading by noted Nisga’a poet Jordan Abel on Aug. 24. Abel will be reading from his latest book, Injun (Talonbooks, 2016).
Injun is a long poem composed of text from western novels published between 1840 and 1950. Abel found his text by searching the novels for the word “Injun” and reassembled and reconstructed the results into poetry.
Among his many accomplishments, Abel recently won the prestigious Griffin Poetry Prize for Injun.
The Gallery is proud to say that Jordan currently resides in Robson with his wife Chelsea Novak. The reading will begin at 7 pm on Aug. 24.
The art featured in the second exhibition, Class Act, was selected from the Year End show of the Digital Art and New Media Program. The students’ work includes a number of two dimensional drawings, photo collages and illustrations along with a 3-D multi-media projection.
Everyone is welcome to attend the opening of the art exhibitions on Aug. 4 at 7 p.m. and the poetry reading on Aug. 24 again at 7 p.m.
Both events are free.
The exhibition will run from Aug. 4 until Sept. 16.
The Gallery is located next to the Doukhobor Discovery Centre, across from the airport.
For more information, call 250-365-3337 or email kootenaygallery@telus.net.
