Dana Justine Belcourt

'Requiem'

Victoria Klassen

'Chapter Sweet'

Artists Dana Justine Belcourt & Victoria Klassen reimagine the diary - a record of our thoughts & encounters as we navigate the world - moving beyond the limits of words into a visceral visual experience.

Dana Justine Belcourt creates a visual archive of their daily life, capturing impressions of people, buildings, graffiti & animals they encounters on daily walks through their Downtown East Side neighbourhood. Seemingly disconnected images overlap like fragments of memories, pulling together what has made an emotional impact on them into sparsely composed surreal dream-scapes. As a woman of Cree & Métis heritage, Belcourt hopes other women of colour will see their own thoughts & feelings about love, displacement, grief & connection reflected in these works.

Victoria Klassen incorporates the notes & drawings left by her late great uncle Clarie into her layered abstract mixed media paintings. Clarie avidly listened to short wave radio & would write musings & make sketches on the things he heard. Photocopies of his notes are worked into her paintings, layered with her own explorations of colour, line work, collage & mark making. Klassen aims to share this unexpected connection she found with Clarie & to give him the voice he was unable to share while alive.

Artists

Watch an engaging conversation with the artists as they share insights into their inspirations & processes.

Plan your visit to the Kay Meek Arts Centre. The exhibition spans the PARK Retirement Living Atrium & lobby to the McEwan Theatre lobby downstairs. Open to visitors Mon - Fri from 10 am - 4 pm & 1 hour before Kay Meek events.

'Artichoke 1'

Axel Breutigam

'Leaf Lips 27'

JanaLee Cherneski 

The vegetation around us is often overlooked & taken for granted, consumed or disposed of. Lens based artists Axel Breutigam & JanaLee Cherneski offer us new ways of looking at plants, fruits & vegetables through dynamic image making; to appreciate their own rich existences & our interconnectedness.

Axel Breutigam is a Vancouver based photographer who’s distinct & technically sophisticated work focuses mainly on architecture, landscapes & florals. In his More Than Edible series, Breutigam reimagines humble vegetables & fruits in ways that go beyond their conventional identities. By focusing on the easily overlooked, he seeks to draw attention to both the vitality & transience of organic forms, transforming botanical subjects into abstract landscapes of texture, light & movement. Through intentional motion blur & dramatic lighting, Breutigam seek to convey a sense of fluidity & ephemerality that reflects the fleeting nature of life itself. The organic details - veins, petals & stems - become painterly strokes, as if the essence of the subject is dissolving in the light. These images challenge the viewer to rethink their perception of everyday natural objects, elevating them from the mundane to the extraordinary.

JanaLee Cherneski is a West Vancouver teacher & community activator exploring her creative passions through photography. Her Scared Decay series is inspired by a recent summer & fall spent immersed in the life of a lake. Every day Cherneski dove in with her underwater camera, discovering an entirely new realm of life beneath the surface. The plants in the lake – often seen by neighbours as a nuisance to be weeded away – became a source of fascination. Documenting their lifecycles through reflections, sunlight, motion & bubbles that changed the colour & quality of the water; illuminating & disrupting the images. The only constant was the leaves of the plants becoming ever more skeletal at the promise of fall. Swimming through the shifting seasons, Cherneski cultivated her photographic practice like a prayer – each day diving down to document the leaves of life below, joyous in their slow decay.  

Artists Talk Livestream

Wed. Apr. 16, 7 pm

Join us for an engaging conversation with the artists as they share insights into their inspirations, processes, take a tour of the exhibition & answer questions from viewers live.

Plan your visit to the Kay Meek Arts Centre. The exhibition spans the PARK Retirement Living Atrium & lobby to the McEwan Theatre lobby downstairs.