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Punctured Landscape

May 12, 2016 to October 2, 2016

Kegan McFadden Portrait
Kegan McFadden

Punctured Landscape

What do you remember from History class?

The year 2017 brings the notion of past, present and futures to mind as we prepare to mark our country’s sesquicentennial. Punctured Landscape illustrates this milestone by transforming Âjagemô into a continuous topography. This is a curatorial gesture inspired by the federal government’s recent commitment to welcome Syrian refugees to Canada in addition to the ongoing efforts at decolonizing our society. It recognizes the breadth of this land and its parallel histories. These histories include Indigenous sovereignty and asylum seekers from afar – histories that are marred by strife, but buoyed by the persistence of the land and the diverse stories that make up Canada’s cultural landscape and inform who we are as a nation. This exhibition illustrates how the land, a witness to colonization and violence of various kinds, perseveres.

Punctured Landscape is a meditation on the Canadian social landscape of living memory. The artworks annotate the struggles present along the journey. Here, certain artworks stand-in for larger social inequities and moments of unrest amid the landscape. These works, and the moments in our collective, living memory that they represent, are to be understood as punctures. The 17 artworks brought together here ask the viewer to (re)consider their interpretation of history, legacy, and possible outcomes for the future.

Read the full artist statement
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Punctured Landscape goes to Washington

The largest exhibition by Canadian artists in the Art Museum of the Americas’ history, Punctured Landscape opens on Thursday April 27th from 6-8pm and will be on view until July 30, 2017.

The AMA will also be inviting members of the public to the following panels inspired by the exhibition:

The exhibition is organized in collaboration with:

Art Museum of the Americas LogoOrganization of American States LogoCanada 150Art Bank

Featured Spotlight Articles

 76 Airplanes (1985) Robert Adrian (1935 - 2015) Installation: collage on model airplanes Collection: Canada Council Art Bank
Behind the Lens Artist Stories Âjagemô

Punctured Landscape: Reflections from the Curator

What do you remember from History class? When do events in our social consciousness pass from news to something that will be taught to future generations of students? Who decides what merits remembrance?

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Speeches Events

Simon Brault’s speaking notes for the G7 Culture Summit in Florence

The former director and CEO of the Canada Council for the Arts participated in the first G7 Culture Summit in Florence. Speaking as the cultural expert for Canada, he contributed to the conversation on the major cultural and heritage issues faced by the G7 countries. Here are his speaking notes.

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Artist Stories Indigenous {Re}conciliation

Opening Doors to Reconciliation

In 2016, Six Nations Cayuga artist Samuel Thomas led 42 workshops in 8 communities across Ontario and Saskatchewan — bringing Indigenous and non-Indigenous Peoples together.

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Announcements

Working together Initiative for refugees

The initiative that we announced in December, The Arts and Culture Welcome Refugees, was officially launched today. While modest in itself ($200,000 in total), this pilot initiative is part of the wider government and civic movement to welcome Syrian refugees.

Gallery

Kegan McFadden

Kegan McFadden is a Winnipeg-based writer, curator, and artist whose projects blur the line between cultural research and storytelling. McFadden has organized exhibitions for artist-run, university, and public galleries throughout Canada over the last decade, employing a curatorial method that is purposely subjective, in order to reposition received narratives and highlight alternative approaches to discourse.

Contributors: Barry Ace, Robert Adrian, Pierre Ayot, Carl Beam, Rebecca Belmore, Shane Davis, Andy Fabo, Trevor Gould, David Hlynsky, Robert Houle, Suzy Lake, Ruth MacLaurin, David Neel, Julie Oh, Carl Stewart, Joanne Tod, and Dennis Tourbin.