Rita McKeough, “darkness is as deep as the darkness is,” 2020 (photo by Donald Lee, courtesy of McKeough and Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity)
Rita McKeough at Dunlop Art Gallery
Calgary performance artist Rita McKeough’s new immersive exhibition, feel through the deepness to see, is on now through June 18 at Dunlop Art Gallery in Regina, Sask.
“We journey below ground, where plants and animals gather and try to make sense of the activities of machines that labour above. Together, we are invited to imagine interspecies relationships beyond the destructive exploitation of extractive industrialism,” according to the gallery notes on the show.
Curated by Tomas Jonsson, McKeough’s new exhibition is the third in a series, which also includes darkness is as deep as the darkness is, curated by Jacqueline Bell at the Walter Philips Gallery, and dig as deep as the darkness, curated by Dylan McHugh for the Richmond Art Gallery.
In addition to being a practicing artist, McKeough is an associate professor of Sculpture and Media Arts at Alberta University of the Arts (AUArts). She holds a master of fine arts degree from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. Also a musician, she is known for using sound as a medium in her art. Her work has been in group and solo exhibitions across North America, including Richmond Art Gallery, Banff Centre for the Arts and Creativity and MASS MoCA in Massachusetts.
Ken Lum, “Lau Hoi Ting Recalls a Poem of Her Youth,” from the series “Image/Repeated Text,” 1994/2023, powder-coated aluminum with vinyl (courtesy of Magenta Plains Gallery, New York/Royale Projects, Los Angeles)
CONTACT Photography Festival Begins
Spending time in Toronto in May? The 28th annual CONTACT Photography Festival began May 1 and continues through May 31. More than 250 established and emerging artists will feature lens-based work at galleries, museums and public spaces throughout Toronto.
There are 36 core exhibitions and public art installations, plus 44 artist talks, workshops and portfolio reviews and 103 community-generated exhibitions throughout the city. As well, the CONTACT Photobook Lab features a reading space and shop for books.
Canadian artist Ken Lum, winner of the 2023 Scotiabank Photography Award, will have work featured at Image Centre's Main Gallery, May 9 to Aug. 3.
Just a few of the other artists: Sara Angelucci, Nuits Balnéaires, Arielle Bobb-Willis, Felicia Byron, Holly Chang, June Clark, Frances Cordero de Bolaños, Julya Hajnoczky, Joyce Joumaa, Zun Lee, John Macfie, Almagul Menlibayeva, Cristian Ordóñez and L. M. Ramsey.
Themes, according to the news release, include “anti-colonial practices, community-building, Afro-futurism, crip liberation, ceremony and revolution, and personal and collective memory, addressing violent gaps in historical archives.” ■
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