Fire: Creation and Destruction

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“Fire: Creation and Destruction,” 2024

(courtesy of the Gallery)

Fire: Creation and Destruction

In partnership with the Sculptor’s Society of BC (SSBC) celebrating their 50th anniversary and 6 invited indigenous artists, the Il Museo Gallery draws attention to fire season in BC.  Fire season spans the late summer to early autumn from August 25 until October 31 each year. This theme serves as a catalyst for discussion on this season of danger which causes chalk-coloured skies in this city and an array of health issues. It also has given rise to extreme devastation in the interior of BC. In order to explore the impact of these annual fires on our city, Il Museo gallery invited the Sculpture Society of BC and 6 indigenous artists (as well as one fibre artist and a painter) to focus on the power of fire and its impact in their artistic work. Many depict diverse cultural traditions which treat fire as a destructive element such as Bill Thomson’s Roman god Vulcan or Gennadiy Zhukov’s Icarus, who is said to have flown too close to the sun. Others such as Onikamow Tapwew, Aaron Rice, Angelo Cavagnaro look to their indigenous communities’ sense of fire as a powerful element which can only be used in culturally proscribed manner when paired with water, the only other element of nature which gives balance to fire’s capacity for destruction. Additionally, Debra Sparrow, who partners with SSBC Member Louise Solecki Weir collaborating on a figurative piece The Runner, captures an athlete midstride, en route to convey messages that bringing news and warnings. As well, Annie Ross in her installation Happy Birthday Super Cheaper, brings attention to the multitude of animals from the forests that are displaced and need protection during the wildfires. Finally, Autumn Christopher, who is Nlakapamux, living close to the Lytton fires in Kamloops shares the painting Imminence, a liminal moment in time, prior to destruction.