Articles of Faith

Expand

Olivia Johnston, "Saint Kathryn," 2021

photograph on vinyl. Courtesy of the Artist.

Articles of Faith On view now, by appointment

ARTICLES OF FAITH TALK SERIES: EMMANUEL OSAHOR AND THE POLITICS OF REST

Thursday, November 18, 6 p.m. (MST)

Join us for a free artist talk with Emmanuel Osahor to explore his artwork in our current exhibition, Articles of Faith, through a conversation between the artist, scholar Dr. Peter Sabo and project research collaborator Dr. Robin Willey. Together, they will discuss Osahor's mural, Sylvie's Garden (Composite, Version 1) and its relationship to ideas of utopia, sanctuary and sabbath. The conversation will touch on topics such as rest as a method of resisting the ethic of productivity in late capitalism found in art, literature and the Hebrew Bible. This event is FREE to attend and will be broadcast on Facebook Live and Vimeo.

“...it is not without reason that faith has been compared to an anchor that has caught on the bottom and checked the vessel in its course, while the open and free ocean stretched beyond as far as the eye can reach. And who shall break the anchor from his heart? When you shake it loose in one place, faith settles its hold somewhere else....”

– Jean-Marie Guyau, The Non-Religion of the Future: A Sociological Study

Articles of Faith brings together artworks that explore how faith tethers us, often through ancestral practices, and whether or not we choose it. Featuring the works of Borys Tarasenko, Emmanuel Osahor, Olivia Johnston and Thirza Cuthand, this exhibition demonstrates the omnipresence of faith practices that at once provide us a deeply historical visual language to describe sacredness where it is often neglected, while also colluding with colonialism and other systems of oppression. 

Articles of Faith is informed by the experiences artists shared with curator Carolyn Jervis and sociologist Dr. Robin Willey in interviews conducted as part of a four-year, multi-sited ethnographic research project that explores relationships between art and faith. 

This exhibition and research is supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, MacEwan University and Concordia University of Edmonton.