Stephanie Kellett & Robert Livingood: After Eden
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Kootenay Gallery of Art, History and Science 120 Heritage Way, Castlegar, British Columbia V1N 4M5
Stephanie Kellett, "Wolves," 2019
What comes After Eden? Visual and performance artist Stephanie Kellett and sound artist Robert Livingood explore this question in a multi-media exhibition at the Kootenay Gallery of Art in Castlegar.
Kellett and Livingood are life partners as well as artistic partners, based in Nelson, BC. The pair has travelled on several occasions to central and northern BC and Yukon, spending months in the wilderness. In their most recent two excursions to the sub Arctic, they came across very little wildlife and crisp, dry tundra.
With this exhibition, the artists express the increasing emptiness of the northern landscape that they have experienced on recent journeys. Kellett has created a series of ghostly portraits of animals in peril, such as wolves, caribou, and salmon. Together, Kellett and Livingood created a short video featuring Kellett as a figure in mourning floating on the barren expanse. To complete the exhibition, Livingood crafted sound work in situ, using field recordings and an analogue synthesizer. The subtle and eerie sound piece loops continuously throughout the gallery.