Divergence and Connection

Curated by Leona Herzog

Artists: Ebunoluwa Akinbo, Colin Corneau, Douglas Fast, Diane Felske, April Hickox, Phil Hossack, Yige Liu, Brody McQueen, Tracy Peters, Sheila Spence, Paige Taylor White, Weichen Zhang

Exhibition Jury: Sarah Fuller, Leona Herzog, Leif Norman

Divergence & Connection explores relationships, differences and connections through the work of twelve photography-based artists from different parts of Canada and at various stages of their artistic arcs.

Their work investigates themes of social significance, while celebrating diversity and acceptance. Artists are presenting and exploring a range of concepts from their lived experiences.

Their viewpoints are extraordinarily varied, but the work resonates with us even though we may be separated by distance or have acutely different cultural experiences.

Grief and loss, whether of a loved one, a previous self, or a long-ago home, are explored with tender poignancy and touching beauty.

Work exploring aids serves as a statement on the resilience and strength of the LGBTQ+ community, while documentary style photos taken during Covid, now five years after it began, capture how we coped and reacted daily to the experience.

Photos present issues of colonialism, otherness, culture and ethnicity in a way that addresses historical and present issues.

Environmental degradation and the human condition are irrevocably intertwined in many of the images.

Bodies and nature change, breathe, grow, and decay in the work of these twelve artists; yet the images are exquisitely beautiful, powerful and, somehow, also exceedingly hopeful.