Further than Confederation – McMaster Museum of Art Gallery

 

Curated by: Ihor Holubizky

March 19, 2010 – August 14, 2010

 

 

This exhibition examines images of Canada that reflect a sense of national identity and sense of place. It is not, however, monolithic. In examining his concept of the nation form, the French Marxist philosopher Étienne Balibar wrote, “All identity is individual, but there is no individual identity that is not constructed within a field of social values, norms of behaviour and collective symbols.”

 

Although works of art are the expressions of an individual vision (artists work for themselves, and not “the nation”), they can provide such symbols for the collective consciousness. As the title indicates, the exhibition works are post-Confederation dating from c.1880 to 2007. The keystone and counterpoint works for the exhibition are John Abrams’ Canadian History Trilogy, and Shelley Niro’s untitled drawing; and coincidentally, both are dated from the same 2000-2001 period. Abrams’ painting is a pictorial revisitation of historical moments from colonial time juxtaposed to a 20th century “Canadian iconic image.” Niro’s work is a list of the 500 nations that inhabited North America before colonialization and nation-forming—a graphic visualization of space and people that stretches into present time, devised as a “scroll metaphor.” They are not contrary works, but speak to different points of view in a consciousness.

 

“Works from the McMaster collection present other episodes in the imagining of the nation-form: its diversity, geographic localities, and cultural specificities. The nation is a work in progress.”

 

– Ihor Holubizky, Senior Curator