Jazz Keillor: Of Stuff

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Jazz Keillor, "Home," 2019

acrylic on paper, 30" x 22"

The Fort Gallery is pleased to present Of Stuff, an exhibition by Halifax-based artist Jazz Keillor. This exhibition is the first of the gallery’s four part series, Making Home, which invites reflection on our changing relationship to the domestic sphere. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and against the backdrop of the Lower Mainland’s housing crisis, notions of home are in flux. The pandemic has seen many of us confined to our homes, as our homes have BECOME offices, playgrounds, schools, and gyms, blurring the boundaries between public and private space.

Jazz Keillor’s exhibition Of Stuff examines our complex relationships to the objects that occupy our living spaces. Her intricate drawings, paintings and sculptures explore the “layered histories” of objects and the emotional freight they carry. Keillor’s work examines how domestic objects, brimming with stories, reveal histories of individuals, families and communities. Images of transience and precarity run throughout her work, challenging notions of home as static, permanent and fixed.

Keillor’s exhibition will be activated by an interactive community project entitled Accumulations, whereby visitors are invited to submit photographs of personal objects and accompanying stories via social media. Throughout the exhibition, these contributions will be assembled into an accordion-style book to be displayed in the gallery. The book will grow as more submissions are received— bringing personal objects into the public sphere through social media and fostering a dialogue around local material culture.

The exhibition will open with a virtual Philosopher’s Cafe with the artist, exploring the meaning of stuff, on Thursday, December 10, 7:30-8:45pm. The exhibition will conclude with a fascinating round of show and tell facilitated by Keillor, where community members are invited to share stories of their treasured possessions, January 28, 7:30-9pm. Both events will take place on Zoom. See fortgallery.ca for registration information. All are welcome to attend these events.