Current exhibits

Allan W. Edwards, Education Arts (Maclaurin) Building

On Communities and Nations

April 5, 2012, to June 9, 2012
Legacy Art Gallery, 630 Yates Street
Image: Unctuous by Sean Nattrass

Ideas of community and nation have a complicated set of relationships. For some, communities are nations. For historian Benedict Anderson, nations are synthetic constructions that we come to imagine as communities through various systems of exchange that include: public meeting places and the reproduction of images and narratives. On Communities and Nations examines Anderson’s concept of imagined communities in relationship to emergence of First Nations printmaking practices in the late twentieth century.

Symbols of living in-between: Re-stor(y)ing life within life-threatening illness

April 13, 2012, to June 4, 2012
Maltwood Prints and Drawings Gallery at the McPherson Library

Advances in science and healthcare have allowed people with life-threatening illnesses to live longer and healthier lives. But the outcomes of treatment are uncertain and the experience of living in-between a promise of prolonged life, and the possibility of illness reoccurring and progressing, is often misunderstood.

Thirty-two people diagnosed with a life-threatening illness (cancer, chronic kidney disease, and HIV/AIDS) volunteered for an interview. They were asked to identify a symbol that represented their experience with their diagnosed illness. Symbols of living in-between: Re-stor(y)ing life within life-threatening illness is the collective effort from a team of nurse researchers seeking new insights into the experiences of individuals that live with the uncertainty of a serious illness.

This exhibit shares a selection of these important images and stories with the public. Symbols range from personal objects and medical documents to favourite music, clothing, and family photographs. Narratives from the participants and poems produced by the research team accompany the stories of these individuals living with a life-threatening illness.  The symbols and narratives highlight how living with a life-threatening illness is much more than a “medical story.”

Symbols of living in-between: Re-stor(y)ing life within life-threatening illness is a travelling exhibit and will be displayed in multiple spaces from galleries to healthcare facilities. This exhibit is part of a larger study entitled Re-stor(y)ing Life Within Life-Threatening Illness.  The Re-stor(y)ing project has been funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).  KRESCENT and the Kidney Foundation of Canada has provided additional support.

HEALTH, ART & COMMUNITY

Opening late January
Cool Aid Community Health Centre, 713 Johnson St
Image: A Dove within the Hawk Is Flying by Roy Tomlinson

Twenty works of art from the University of Victoria Art Collection is scheduled for installation at the Cool Aid Community Health Clinic in late January. The project was originated with University of Victoria’s Williams Legacy Chair, Dr. Carolyn Butler Palmer.

This past semester, she worked with her students to design a permanent exhibit within the Cool Aid Community Health clinic. Dr. Butler Palmer’s exhibition class met between September and December 2010, and discussing issues related to the creation, promotion, and exhibition of art as a means of community making. The idea was set forth for the class to promote these relationships between cultural activity and well-being. Visit www.coolaid.org for more information about the Victoria Cool Aid Society.

Images from Access Health