In Deep
Excavation, extraction and the body’s connection to the land.
Frédéric Bigras-Burrogano, "La Mer Qui Meurt" (detail), 2020
wooden box and salt print, 6" x 21.5" x 13" (photo by Tayler Buss)
Asiniy Iskwew – Cree for Rock Woman – is a series of photographs in which Lori Blondeau stands on various rocks draped in blood-red velvet fabric. The work has become a symbol of resilience and resistance to histories of violence and wrongdoing. It’s also her homage to the profound connection Plains people have with the land and its rock formations.
Blondeau is a Cree/Saulteaux/Métis artist whose home community, Gordon First Nation, is not far from the sacred boulder of Mistaseni, once an important gathering point in what is now southern Saskatchewan. Mistaseni (Cree for “big rock”) was destroyed in 1966 to create Lake Diefenbaker, a large reservoir that helps control flooding in the province. At the time, efforts were made to move the 400-tonne boulder, but the government decided it was not worth the cost and blew it up instead.
Lori Blondeau, "Asiniy Iskwew," 2016
photograph, 65" x 44.5" (photo by Tayler Buss)
One of the photographs from Blondeau’s Asiniy Iskwew series is displayed as part of In Deep, a group exhibition on view until July 8 at the Platform Centre for Photographic and Digital Arts in Winnipeg. The exhibition centres on resource extraction and explores the complex narratives surrounding human connections to the land.
Dispersed throughout the gallery is Montreal-based artist Frédéric Bigras-Burrogano’s Vertebrae, comprised of small stone-like sculptures made of fossils, plastic, pewter, gold and bronze. The work reflects the history of Drumheller, Alta., once a prosperous coal-mining town. After the discovery of dinosaur bones, Drumheller became known as the dinosaur capital of the world.
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Frédéric Bigras-Burrogano, "Vertebrae," detail ("Hills of Home" series), 2019
collection of five pieces dispersed in gallery, fossil, plastic, pewter, gold and bronze, 2" x 2" x 3" each (photo by Tayler Buss)
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Frédéric Bigras-Burrogano, "Vertebrae" ("Hills of Home" series), 2019
collection of five pieces dispersed in gallery, fossil, plastic, pewter, gold and bronze, 2" x 2" x 3" each (photo by Tayler Buss)
The town, northeast of Calgary, is home to what’s billed as the world’s largest dinosaur, an outdoor tourist attraction with a viewing platform that lets visitors look out from inside the mouth of an 86-foot-high fibreglass Tyrannosaurus rex. While Vertebrae is a response to Drumheller’s transition to a tourist town, it’s also a reminder that the exploitation of raw materials, a backbone of capitalism, can threaten environmental health.
New Mineral Collective, "Pleasure Prospects," 2019
single-channel video, installation view at Platform Centre for Photographic and Digital Arts, Winnipeg (photo by Tayler Buss)
The show includes Pleasure Prospects, a video by the New Mineral Collective, an internationally active online platform based in Norway. It juxtaposes natural landscapes with office furniture and serene ocean settings with industrial excavation. Filled with ironic imagery of branding that promises “smart mining” and “long-term value,” the video proposes a different future.
New Mineral Collective questions if love, desire and lust are also natural resources available for extraction. It portrays a feminist utopia, contemplating how our search for material wealth has overshadowed our need for meaning and connection. It equates mining with penetration and encourages viewers to discover the resources of their own bodies.
Gillian Dykeman, "Weird Woods," 2019
eco-processed 16mm film, maple wood and poster, installation view at Platform Centre for Photographic and Digital Arts, Winnipeg (photo by Tayler Buss)
The show, curated by Amy Ash, the daughter of a mine worker, also includes work by Emily Critch, a Mi’kmaw artist from Newfoundland; Gillian Dykeman from Fredericton, N.B.; and Tsēmā, a member of the Tahltan First Nation in the Pacific Northwest.
In Deep positions the body in relation to the land and humanizes the earth. It considers human bodies to be impacted sites, along with larger ecosystems, and asks what we can do to replenish them. The show proposes no answers to such complicated questions but provides a space to contemplate the issues. ■
In Deep, at the Platform Centre for Photographic and Digital Arts in Winnipeg, from June 3 to July 8, 2022.
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Platform: Centre for Photographic & Digital Arts
121-100 Arthur St, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3B 1H3
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