Diaspora and Painting

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Shanna Strauss, “Bee-Keeper,” 2019

mixed media, photo transfer, acrylic, fabric and found wood, 53″ x 36″ (courtesy the artist)

A kaleidoscope of visual narratives and counternarratives about diasporic identity are featured in a large group exhibition on view at the Esker Foundation in Calgary until Nov. 27. Relations: Diaspora and Painting, curated by Cheryl Sim, the managing director and curator of the PHI Foundation for Contemporary Art in Montreal, includes more than 50 works by 27 Canadian, British and American artists from different generations and backgrounds.

With painting’s deep and complex history, this exhibition is a provocative lens for exploring the possibilities and complexities of diaspora in a globalized world through painting practices that range from abstraction to figuration. Shifting seamlessly between geographic spaces, the works both align with and disrupt the Western canon through evocative hybrids and new iterations that encourage reflection and dialogue on fundamental questions about identity, heritage and belonging – or not belonging. 

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Manuel Mathieu, “ST-Jak 3,” 2020

acrylic, charcoal, chalk, tape, fabric and oil sticks, 80″ x 75″ (courtesy of the Rozéfort-Racicot family collection)

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Maia Cruz Palileo, “Afterward,” 2019

oil on panel, 24″ x 30″ (Young-Abraham collection)

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While ideas about diaspora have evolved and changed over the decades, what commonly continues to be recognized is an emotional allegiance to the “old homeland” – historical, current or imaginary – and its connection to multiple generations in new places. The exhibition showcases a rich and diverse collection of works that bring visual storytelling to life through transcultural expressions across multiple cultural and geographic borders. 

In artistic terms, diaspora is often used to discuss artists who have migrated from one part of the world to another (or whose families have) and whose work expresses diverse experiences of culture and identity. These artists often express alternative narratives and challenge ideas and structures of the established art world. As highlighted in the exhibition, the diasporic space is multiple, fluid and, at times, paradoxical.

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Jessica Sabogal and Shanna Strauss, “We Are Bridges,” 2020

mixed media, spray paint, photo transfer and acrylic, 8′ x 13′ (courtesy the artists)

Viewers are introduced to the exhibition through a collaborative work by Tanzanian American artist Shanna Strauss and Colombian American artist Jessica Sabogal. We Are Bridges is a large painting on a ground of reclaimed wood that portrays three women who sit facing forward. Armed with cultural objects and a family portrait, the painting intricately weaves together bold patterns and photo transfers that pay tribute to ancestors, imbuing their subjects with a sense of grandeur while retaining their distinctiveness. It sets the tone for the show’s intergenerational dialogue and its challenges to the boundaries of what painting is and can be.

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Rick Leong, “Goldstream,” 2019

oil on canvas, 96″ x 72″ (collection of Nick and Dale Tedeschi)

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Jinny Yu, “Perpetual Guest,” 2019

mixed media, oil on glass, aluminum pipes and vinyl text, dimensions variable (courtesy the artist)

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For example, in the first room, visitors encounter a conceptual work by Yoko Ono that asks them to imagine a “painting for the wind” by “cutting a hole in a bag filled with seeds of any kind” and placing the bag where there’s a wind. This poetic expression beautifully captures the diasporic experience – the scattering of people across geographic terrains – and contrasts evocatively with other works, including Victoria artist Rick Leong’s dreamy and melancholic blue landscapes, Montreal artist Hajra Waheed’s quiet yet blustering cloudscapes, and Perpetual Guest, which includes architectural paintings hung at disconcerting angles, by Jinny Yu, a professor at the University of Ottawa.

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Firelei Báez, “Years of holding your tongue,” 2018

gouache on paper, 7.8′ x 4′ (detail) (courtesy of Rennie Collection, Vancouver)

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Rajni Perera, “Ancestor 2,” 2019

mixed media on paper, 48″ x 36″ (courtesy the artist and Patel Brown Gallery, Toronto)

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Marigold Santos, “shroud (in threadbare light) 2,” 2020

painting, acrylic, pigment and gesso on canvas, 40″ x 72″ (courtesy the artist and Patel Brown Gallery, Toronto)

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While these paintings focus on geographic locations, others focus on portraiture. In Ancestor 1 and Ancestor 2, Sri Lanka-born artist Rajni Perera creates otherworldly figures using vibrant colours, shimmering gold backdrops and intricate patterns to evoke a sense of regal tranquility. 

Other works integrate the figure within the landscape. For example, Firelei Báez, born in the Dominican Republic and now based in New York, reimagines a Dominican legend with breathtaking forms that are half-woman, half-tree. Meticulously painted hair tendrils and delicate drops of blood evoke deep connections to land and ancestral roots. These works contrast beautifully with five paintings by Calgary artist Marigold Santos, who was born in the Philippines. Her works explore fragmentation and empowerment through mythical figures that are ephemeral yet bound within the landscape.

The show includes myriad other paintings by artists of various backgrounds, including Pakistani, Chinese, Jamaican, Ghanaian and Korean, which belies the notion that we rarely see artists of colour in galleries and museums because they are few and far between. In fact, Sims has been following some of these artists for almost a decade. The artists she has selected collapse cultural borders with authority and should be more widely presented in the art world. ■  

Relations: Diaspora and Painting at the Esker Foundation in Calgary from July 24 to Nov. 27, 2021. Curated by Cheryl Sim, it features work by Larry Achiampong, Hurvin Anderson, Kamrooz Aram, Moridja Kitenge Banza, Firelei Báez, Frank Bowling, Cy Gavin, Barkley L. Hendricks, Lubaina Himid, Bharti Kher, Rick Leong, Manuel Mathieu, Julie Mehretu, Jordan Nassar, Yoko Ono, Maia Cruz Palileo, Rajni Perera, Ed Pien, Jessica Sabogal, Marigold Santos, Yinka Shonibare CBE, Shanna Strauss, Curtis Talwst Santiago, Mickalene Thomas, Salman Toor, Hajra Waheed and Jinny Yu.

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