Ken Lum
A champion of working class struggles.
Ken Lum, “Time. And Again.” series (left), 2021, and “Line” (right), 1986, 2022
six couches, installation view of “Death and Furniture” at Remai Modern, Saskatoon (courtesy the artist and Royale Projects, photo by Carey Shaw)
On April 1, Amazon workers in Staten Island, N.Y., celebrated a successful vote to unionize, one of the most important labour victories in the United States since the 1930s. Despite immense revenue increases during the pandemic, many corporations, like Amazon, continue to violate the safety and human rights of frontline workers to generate wealth and maintain supply-chain efficiency. Public awareness of such corporate cruelty has heightened during the COVID-19 crisis, making it an opportune time for both labour organizing and social upheaval.
During his 40-year career, Ken Lum has championed the working class. His 1989 work, Melly Shum Hates Her Job, permanently installed outside the former Witte de With Centre for Contemporary Art in Rotterdam has not only become a monument to hating one’s job but also the inspiration behind the gallery’s 2020 renaming to Kunstinstituut Melly. Similarly, Burnaby’s new public sculpture, The Retired Draught Horse and the Last Pulled Log, illustrates the excruciating suffering of the labouring class. Lum has been candid about his personal relationship with the realities of the working poor and his practice has maintained an innate empathy and relatability.
Ken Lum, “I’m Always Waiting” from the “Time. And Again.” series, 2021
installation view of “Death and Furniture” at Remai Modern, Saskatoon (courtesy the artist, photo by Carey Shaw)
To accompany Lum’s expansive exhibition Death and Furniture, on view at the Remai Modern in Saskatoon until May 15, the museum enlisted billboards in Saskatoon’s downtown core to highlight new works from his Time. And Again. series, which he began in 1989. As Saskatoon residents commute to work, they are confronted by large portraits juxtaposed with heart-wrenching internal dialogues. For instance, in I’m Always Waiting, a young man sits on a public bench, hands clasped and elbows resting on his knees. The corresponding text states: “Always waiting for a call to work. Always waiting, waiting, waiting. Always waiting for a call to work. Always waiting, waiting, waiting.” This work, like others in the series, invites viewers to consider the life and personal challenges of another person.
The series is also presented in the museum, where it resonates differently. Here, viewers are exposed to a wider breadth of subjects and their various struggles, enveloping them in a chorus of anxieties. Each subject’s stress is centred around employment as they try to balance their physical, mental and emotional health with the desperate need for steady pay. Lum’s work is particularly apt today as telecommuting and endless emails and text messages blur the line between our work life and our personal life.
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Ken Lum, “Untitled Furniture Sculpture,” 1978-present
two couches, two loveseats, four end tables and four lamps, and (background) “Necrology” series, 2017, archival ink prints on paper, installation view of “Death and Furniture” at Remai Modern, Saskatoon (courtesy the artist and Royale Projects, photo by Carey Shaw)
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Ken Lum, “Photo-Mirror” series, 1997-1998
maple wood, mirror and photographs, installation view of “Death and Furniture” at Remai Modern, Saskatoon (collection of the MacKenzie Art Gallery, Regina; gift of the artist, photo by Carey Shaw)
At the exhibition’s heart are Lum’s well-known furniture sculptures, which consist of living room furnishings configured to be inviting but inaccessible. Meanwhile, in the Photo-Mirror series, candid family photographs are tucked into the mirrors’ simple wooden frames. Much like the couches, the photographs are enticing, and viewers may yearn to engage. Although both bodies of work evoke a warm home life and suggest familiarity, you are not invited to share their comforts.
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Ken Lum, “Mirror Maze with 12 Signs of Depression,” 2002
mirror, wood, Plexiglas, paint and acrylic sheet, installation view of “Death and Furniture,” at the Remai Modern in Saskatoon (collection of the Vancouver Art Gallery, photo by Carey Shaw)
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Ken Lum, “Mirror Maze with 12 Signs of Depression,” 2002
mirror, wood, Plexiglas, paint and acrylic sheet, installation view of “Death and Furniture,” at the Remai Modern in Saskatoon (collection of the Vancouver Art Gallery, photo by Carey Shaw)
Perhaps the most notable work in the exhibition is Mirror Maze with 12 Signs of Depression. The maze is purposefully disorienting and difficult to navigate, forcing visitors to move slowly through the space and confront each diagnostic prompt. It materializes the gruelling realities of depression and the myriad obstacles one faces to manoeuvre the healthcare system, avoid social derision and maintain employment.
Ken Lum, “Yasir Khorshed” from the “Necrology” series, 2017
archival ink prints on paper, installation view of “Death and Furniture” at Remai Modern, Saskatoon (courtesy the artist and Royale Projects, photo by Carey Shaw)
The income gap between rich and poor continues to grow in Canada. One in seven Canadians now lives in poverty. Precarious employment, low wages and unsafe working conditions push people out of the workforce prematurely, leaving millions struggling to pay for housing while grappling with challenges like food insecurity, inadequate pensions, unaffordable child care or inaccessible health care.
Lum’s Necrology Series shares such heartbreaking realities through obituaries conceived in the style and format of 19th-century newspaper headlines. For example, Yasir Khorshed details the experiences of a storied garment-factory worker who fought for safe and sanitary working conditions. The account mirrors that of Lum’s mother, a hard-working woman desperate to give her family a home. She died young from benzene-generated leukemia, a toxin she was exposed to at work. ■
Ken Lum: Death and Furniture at the Remai Modern in Saskatoon from Feb. 11 to May 15, 2022.
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REMAI MODERN
102 Spadina Crescent E, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7K 0L3
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