Sanctuaries
Gallery 1C03 Presents Sanctuaries, A Virtual Exhibition Curated by Patterns Collective
September 20 - December 19, 2021
https://thesanctuaries.ca
Sanctuaries features works by women-identified artists Anique Jordan, Akum Maduka and Rajni Perera in a custom designed virtual architectural space created by Odudu Umoessien that can be viewed online this fall. The presentation of this exhibition in a virtual space is key to the curatorial intention of Patterns Collective which is to bring together works that explore how Jordan, Maduka and Perera express perceptions of the female body within a contemporary frame removed from conventionality. This exhibition revisits the idea of the self-gaze in digital realms and explores agency in self-portrayal and self-determination. Each artist’s work addresses themes of the body and identity from a lens pointing back at their singular and collective selves, given the harsh realities faced by racialized bodies navigating colonial spaces.
The exhibition’s website and affiliated online programming will be in multiple community spaces that open discussion about intersecting identities such as race, gender, diaspora, globalization and its disconnects. Themes of discussion that we anticipate include: community building, storytelling, desire and social performances.
VISIT THE EXHIBITION
The exhibition can be viewed online at https://thesanctuaries.ca September 20 - December 19, 2021.
READ THE EXHIBITION BROCHURE WITH CURATOR'S ESSAY AND POEM BY CHIMWEMWE UNDI
English
French
ONLINE EVENTS
Studio visits with Anique Jordan
Presented with La Maison des artistes visuels francophones.
Applications due September 23, 2021
Discussion with Sanctuaries curators and artists
Presented with The University of Winnipeg’s Critical Race Network.
September 29, 2021, 3:00 - 4:30 pm CDT
Event recording
Vanishing: A Conversation with Akum Maduka
Presented with The University of Winnipeg Women's and Gender Studies Department.
November 10, 2021, 9:30 - 10:30 am CST
Event recording
Community Meet-up for Black Creatives
Presented with The Black Mosaic.
December 5, 2021, 4:30 - 6:00 pm CST
Exploring the Universe: A Conversation with Rajni Perera
Presented with Take Home BIPOC Arts House.
December 14, 2021, 11:30 am - 12:30 pm
Event recording
ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES
Anique Jordan is an award-winning artist, writer and curator who has presented her work across Canada and internationally. Working for over a decade at the crossroads of community economic development and art, Jordan’s practice stems from and returns to the communities that inform it. Jordan’s photographs, sculptures and performances play with the foundations of traditional Trinidadian carnival and the theory of hauntology, challenging historical narratives and creating what she calls impossible images. This work creates space to reinterpret the archives offering a new and speculative vision of the future.
Akum Maduka is a Winnipeg based emerging artist with Nigerian roots. Originally from an architectural background, her work investigates the role of societal constructs and their influence on human performance within space and how such notions have created skewed ideals of what a normative life should be. Her intimate drawings entwine these narratives with ongoing lived experiences, as she examines the pliancy and complexity of gender roles, sexuality, desire, and ethnicity in modern society.
Rajni Perera was born in Sri Lanka in 1985 and lives and works in Toronto. She explores issues of hybridity, futurity, ancestorship, immigration identity/cultures, monsters and dream worlds. All of these themes marry in a newly objectified realm of mythical symbioses. In her work she seeks to open and reveal the dynamism of the icons and objects she creates, both scripturally existent, self-invented and externally defined. She creates a subversive aesthetic that counteracts antiquated, oppressive discourse, and acts as a restorative force through which people can move outdated, repressive modes of being towards reclaiming their power. Rajni’s work has shown across Canada and internationally, including at MOCA Toronto, Mackenzie Art Gallery, and Centre PHI to name a few.
Odudu Umoessien is a Nigerian born storyteller and multi-disciplinary artist exploring the relationship between human perception and the natural world which he translates into expressions of Light and Space through architecture. His incorporation of film has allowed him to introduce the dimension of Time into his work, making his stories and questions much more powerful and immersive. Odudu has a Master of Architecture degree from the University of Manitoba and has received several awards for his work, including the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada’s International Prize Scholarship. He has presented his work locally at the Winnipeg Design Festival and now lives and works as an Architectural Designer in Toronto.
Chimwemwe Undi is a Black poet and lawyer living and writing on Treaty 1 territory. Her writing and performance has appeared in Brick, The Walrus, and Border Crossings, on CBC and BBC World, and at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, among others. Chimwemwe's creative response to Sanctuaries appears in the exhibition brochure.
Oghosa Ogiemwonyi is a media and communication student with a focus on website and graphic design, and search engine optimization. He was born in Nigeria and came to Canada as an international student. Oghosa is interested in various forms of design and uses his own design to help small to medium size businesses have an appealing visual presence online. Oghosa has also worked with various creatives in the past to put together a magazine that showcased other creatives within Canada with a major focus on Winnipeg creatives. Oghosa designed the Sanctuaries exhibition website.
CURATOR BIOGRAPHIES - PATTERNS COLLECTIVE
Shaneela Boodoo is a graduate of the University of Manitoba with a BFA (Honours) in Design. She is a second-generation immigrant, born and based in Winnipeg, Manitoba and identifies as Indo-Caribbean. As an emerging artist, designer, and curator, Boodoo explores themes such as colonialism, displacement, and womanhood. Boodoo has also worked to establish and brand many BIPOC collectives in the city, such as RIND, Patterns Collective and Chroma Collective. Her curated exhibitions include Adornment and Analogous for the School of Art Gallery, which centered the experiences of BIPOC in institutional spaces.
Mahlet Cuff is an emerging interdisciplinary artist who produces their work through digital, and film still photography as well as audio recordings. They explore subjects of healing, memory, collective care and existence to question relationships between kin and the relationship they have with themselves. She is also a community organizer and founder of the group Justice 4 Black Lives Winnipeg where she advocates for abolition and safety of all Black people. She has curatorial experience with being involved with Patterns Collective and co-curating work for Window Winnipeg for the exhibition called Joy is more than just a feeling. Their work has been shown locally and nationally as well.
Chukwudubem Ukaigwe is a Nigerian born song, dispersed by a transient Atlantic breeze, currently passing through Canada. He consciously uses a variety of mediums to relay a plurality of ideas at any given time. He views his art practice as a conversation, or a portal into one, and in some instances, as an interpretation of this ongoing exchange. Chukwudubem operates as an interdisciplinary artist, curator, writer and cultural worker. Ukaigwe is a founding member of Patterns Collective.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Gallery 1C03 is on Treaty 1 Territory. We are located on the territories of the Anishinaabeg, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota and Dene peoples, and the homeland of the Métis Nation. Our water is sourced from Shoal Lake 40 First Nation.
Gallery 1C03 is grateful to our program partners: The Black Mosaic, La Maison des artistes visuels francophones, Take Home BIPOC Arts House, and The University of Winnipeg’s Critical Race Network and Women’s & Gender Studies department. We acknowledge financial assistance for Sanctuaries from the Manitoba Arts Council and Winnipeg Arts Council.
ACCESSIBILITY
ASL can be arranged for online events with two weeks' advance notice by contacting the Gallery.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Jennifer Gibson, Director/Curator
Gallery 1C03, The University of Winnipeg