Love Ethic

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Joi Arcand, "ē-kī-nōhtē-itakot opwātisimowiskwēw (she used to want to be a fancy dancer)," 2019

neon. Collection of the University of Saskatchewan. Photograph by Carey Shaw.

This exhibition presents recent acquisitions drawn from the University of Saskatchewan Art Collection, featuring five contemporary Canadian artists: Joi Arcand, Amalie Atkins, Catherine Blackburn, Ruth Cuthand and Curtis Santiago.

Love Ethic considers their artworks both individually and in relation to one another, with a clear focus on personal and collective narratives regarding cultural identity, memory, love, and loss emerging throughout the selections. This is coupled with an underlying consideration for the ethics of institutional collecting practices and care to reflect the present moment. Cultural theorist bell hooks states "the ability to acknowledge blind spots can emerge only as we ex-pand our concern about politics of domination and our capacity to care about the oppression and exploitation of others. A love ethic makes this expansion possible.”¹ In times of polarization and divisiveness we may consider love ethic as a practice for how to coexist.

¹bell hooks, Outlaw Culture: Resisting Representation (Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2015). p. 244.