MULTI-MEDIA
What: The Earth is My Elder
Where: Open Space Gallery, 510 Fort St.
When: Through May 29
Admission: Free
Information: openspace.ca
A new exhibit at Open Space gallery featuring the unique talents of New Mexico artist Krista Arias will immerse visitors in a world of poetry and filmmaking — before they even set foot inside the artist-run centre.
“On the exterior wall of the building we have stenciled some of her poetry from one of the films,” curator Toby Lawrence said of Arias’s multi-media exhibit, The Earth is My Elder. “And the outside windows will be running on monitors each of the [three] films, while the outer alcove before the front door will have audio from the films looping as well. It will offer a multi-layer experience of all the components of the work.”
The main portion of the project continues inside with three films by Arias — Eating Our Ancestors, Susto & Limpia, and Xochiquetzal’s Bed — projected onto the interior walls of the Fort Street space, in a continuous loop. “You will have this experience of sitting and resting and being with the work,” Lawrence said.
The Earth is My Elder is an exploration of the complex ways in which Arias has been reconnecting, both as a mother and woman, to her Mexican American (Xicana) ancestry, with which she lost a direct connection over the years. The installation looks at how and where we live relates to our ancestors, Lawrence said.
Arias has family connections in Vancouver and Kelowna; the latter is where the exhibit has its origins. Lawrence and Arias met as students in the Ph. D program at the University of British Columbia’s Okanagan campus, and later began working in collaboration on inter-disciplinary events about ancestral relationships, food sovereignty, and community connection.
The Earth is My Elder emerged from discussions “about how we can operate on a de-Colonial framework,” Lawrence said. “The project stirred the question of curatorial hospitality.”
The topic of curatorial hospitality, primarily guest-host relations in unceded and Treaty lands, provided Lawrence with the foundation for a larger project with Open Space, In Relation: Engaging Curatorial Hospitality. The project, which includes a podcast, will tackle the larger issue to a more extensive degree in the coming months. “[The Earth is My Elder] brings it all full circle by bringing Krista up to Victoria as a way of having this multi-layered conversation around many of these over-lapping ideas,” Lawrence said.
Arias will also publish a book of poetry, Xingona Girl Smoke: the pace and posture of permission, and give a virtual poetry reading at some point during the exhibition, Lawrence said.
February 3rd - May 29th, Open Space presents The Earth is my Elder, an exhibition centred around the film, poetry and installation-based work of artist, poet and earth alchemist @kristaarias and curated by Toby Lawrence. Hours: 12-4pm, Wed-Sat. Admission is free / by donation. pic.twitter.com/lb8ePvjvKG
— Open Space (@OpenSpaceVic) January 28, 2021
