Mexico City-born, Saskatoon-based artist Gabriela García-Luna says her exhibition at the John V. Hicks Gallery is rooted in questions about land, memory, home and the places people carry with them.
García-Luna’s exhibition, “land home land”, is on display at the John V. Hicks Gallery in the Margo Fournier Arts Centre until June 23. The exhibition followed a May residency in Prince Albert, where García-Luna worked in the gallery space, met members of the community and drew inspiration from the nearby North Saskatchewan River.
“’land home land’ is an exhibition that comes from reflections about the place where we live, and that implies many perspectives, dimensions, and experiences,” García-Luna said.
Arjun Pillai/Daily Herald
Two photo-based works by Gabriela García-Luna are displayed as part of land home land, an exhibition that grew out of her May residency in Prince Albert.
The exhibition is not made only of work created from scratch in Prince Albert. García-Luna said the show brings together work produced in different places over several years, including pieces connected to the Saskatchewan River Delta, a recent residency in Paris and a large four-panel work finalized during her time at the Hicks gallery.
She compared the exhibition to a river carrying elements from different places in its current.
“A residency is always a new home for an artist,” she said. “Every time you move to a residency, let’s say in the Saskatchewan River Delta, or in Paris, or in Prince Albert, you are leaving your studio, you are leaving your home, and you are going to a different environment that will, of course, inform your work.”
Garica-Luna said the title came partly from the familiar phrase “home sweet home,” which led her to think of “land sweet land.” She said the exhibition is an invitation to think about people’s relationship with the places they live and the care they owe to land.
Arjun Pillai/Daily Herald
Large-scale paper works by Gabriela García-Luna hang inside the John V. Hicks Gallery as part of her exhibition land home land.
Curator Jesse Campbell said the purpose of a residency is to give artists time, space and resources to create work, engage with a community of focus on their artistic practice.
Campbell said García-Luna was selected because her work is strongly informed by land, geography and dialogue with people. She said the Margo Fournier Arts Centre also has a long history as a place where artists gathered, created work and shared ideas.
“I thought that she would be a great fit to provide a point of inspiration within our artistic community, but then for her to also have her practice informed by our location here, especially in close proximity to the North Saskatchewan River,” Campbell said.
The river became a major part of García-Luna’s experience in Prince Albert. She said she visited the North Saskatchewan River during the spring ice break and was struck by its force, movement and changing light.
“I always look for rivers in my work,” García-Luna said. “I came interested in the river, in the Saskatchewan River, because understood the Saskatchewan River, the virtual column of life in this place where I live.”
García-Luna said walking along the river and spending time in Prince Albert helped her feel grounded. She said the Hicks Gallery space, with its light and proportions, also influenced the way the final work was presented.
“I felt there was an openness and generosity of the place that I appreciate very much,” she said.
Campbell said about 35 people attended the June 4 reception and artist talk, which was the final event in a series of public programs connected to the residency. García-Luna also led four cyanotype printing workshops, sharing one of the earliest photographic processes with local participants.
Arjun Pillai/Daily Herald
Works from Gabriela García-Luna’s land home land exhibition hang inside the John V. Hicks Gallery. The exhibition followed a May artist residency in Prince Albert.
Campbell said the project gave Prince Albert audiences a new way to look at a familiar place.
“Overall, it adds richness to our artistic landscape,” Campbell said.
García-Luna said she is grateful to the community members who visited the studio, attended talks and took part in workshops during her time in Prince Albert.
“I could feel myself at home,” she said. “For the time I was there.”
arjun.pillai@paherald.sk.ca
