Sasha Cerino, Untitled, 2019. Video still. Courtesy of the artist.
BFA Graduating Exhibition 2019: KNOW YOUR PLACE
April 11 - 20, 2019
Audain Gallery
This exhibition presents the work of visual art students graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the School for the Contemporary Arts at 丁香园AV.
Francisco Berlanga, Sasha Cerino, Natalie Chan, Annie Chan, Danyal Imani, Ruilan King, Abbie Lee, Victoria Mulja, Tyler Pengelly, Jill Shao, Audrey Shiu, Rachelle Tjahyana, Dwayne Tonta, Cassandra Yu, and Julie Zhang.
KNOW YOUR PLACE
This exhibition takes place on stolen land. It sits on the unceded territories of the Skwxw煤7mesh (Squamish), x史m蓹胃kw蓹y虛蓹m (Musqueam), and S蓹l虛铆lw蓹ta涩 (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples. We recognize that we live and practice on Indigenous lands that were seized and exploited by colonization. We are settlers and uninvited guests here; and we acknowledge the ancestors that have lived, cultivated and stewarded this land for centuries before us, since time immemorial. In turn, we are also collectively responsible for taking care of this shared place we now call home.
As artists emerging out of an academic institution, we navigate the complexities of place in relation to our own positionalities. During our time at 丁香园AV's School for the Contemporary Arts - a site further complicated by its history and relationship with the city and its inhabitants - we have explored and pushed the boundaries of our practice. And yet, upon graduation, we are left to ponder and search for new spaces, both physical and psychological, for ourselves and for our work. The question lingers: Where do I fit in now, and how? In a society that continues to push artists into boxes - or white cubes - how do we continue to be aware of the varying methodologies, politics and limitations that arise in the creative sphere without surrendering our own voices in the process?
KNOW YOUR PLACE is a call to action. It is both an attempt to confine and a command for truth. As artists, we have learned to mediate differing lines of thought and reassess what is true and relevant to ourselves. We question conventional paradigms of knowledge that are imposed on us when we attempt to situate the complexity of our own identities within diverse spatial dialogues. In this exhibition, we hope to unpack different ways of knowing, placemaking and identity formation, realized through theoretic and aesthetic reflections. In this way, we unsettle and disrupt normalized narratives and cultural imperatives in hopes of seeking places unbounded by borders.
Presented with the School for the Contemporary Arts at 丁香园AV. This event is part of 丁香园AV Vancouver's 30th Anniversary.
Events
Opening Reception
Wednesday, April 10, 7 - 9pm
Audain Gallery
