Ben Evely & Nahanni McKay | The General Store

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Ben Evely & Nahanni McKay, “The General Store,” 2024

(courtesy of the Gallery)

The General Store is a visual arts project surveying the commodification of the natural world within outdoor recreation and tourism culture. The initiative was started by artists Nahanni Mckay and Ben Evely, in their hometown of Banff, Canada, on Treaty 7 Territory.

This collaborative work looks at consumerism within outdoor recreation through a critical and humourous lens.The artwork features playful reproductions of commodities you might find in a gift shop. The duo seeks to deconstruct cultural trends inspired by nature, by exploring wilderness aesthetics. The General Store seeks to encourage dialogue within outdoor communities and tourism economies, and ultimately create a positive impact. The broadly titled General Store leaves space for various iterations in shifting contexts. Open to collaboration between community members, and for the evolution of the project over time.