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Clay Ellis, "The Block," 2020, stainless steel, aluminum and acrylic, 8'  x 4' x 12' (photo courtesy Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton )

Borderline

Alberta’s biennial redefines its boundaries with exhibitions in Edmonton and Saskatoon.

by

The call to artists for borderLINE: 2020 Biennial of Contemporary Art went out long before COVID-19, but its theme seems eerily prescient. Now, more than ever, borders between cultures, countries and even our bodies are sharply demarcated. 

In keeping with the theme, the exhibition’s four curators – Sandra Fraser, Felicia Gay, Franchesca Hebert-Spence and Lindsey Sharman – did something unprecedented since the Alberta Biennial’s inception in 1996: they redefined the show’s borders. 

The exhibition, which opened Sept. 26, is running concurrently at the Remai Modern in Saskatoon and the Art Gallery of Alberta in Edmonton, spanning five treaty territories. It splits more than 30 artists between the two venues, so seeing the entire biennial requires crossing the provincial border. 

Judging by the Edmonton half of the show, the curatorial theme shoots a bull’s-eye into the spirit of the times. The selected artists – inspired by the invitation to interpret borders as delineating physical spaces as well as cultures, practices and even states of mind – respond with sensitivity and insight.

Perhaps nothing is so iconic of Canadian borders as its national railway system. In Allowances, a video by Hali Heavy Shield, from the Blood Tribe of southern Alberta, and Corinne Thiessen, its tracks cut a black line across the Prairies. 

Treaties solidified claims to lands north of the American border, allowing the Canadian Pacific Railway to be built. The resulting expansion united and enriched settlers but caused famine amongst Indigenous people on the Prairies. As game disappeared, they arrived emaciated at forts begging for food, but received little help under Sir John A. Macdonald’s policy of starving First Nations into submission. 

The video depicts these contrasting accounts of history with poignant humour. The artists lie on railway tracks smoking and chatting, and, silhouetted against the sky, perform a ritual “dance” of reconciliation. Their friendship, set against the backdrop of colonial brutality, offers hope: perhaps individuals – if not societies – can overcome barriers.

Catherine Blackburn, a member of the English River First Nation in northern Saskatchewan, presents a startling take on cultural boundaries in Bodies and Homelands. Her mirrored prints, which depict a woman’s draped back adorned with a mysterious oval pattern, are seductive in their beauty. It’s only after reading the panel that we realize the decoration represents a massive beaded bruise.

Blackburn’s juxtaposition of pain and beauty is wrenching. The vibrant bruise evokes the forcible confinement of Indigenous children in residential schools – more than 3,000 never returned home, including some who died trying to escape. The schools may have closed, but intergenerational trauma remains. In some ways, little has changed. More than 30 per cent of inmates in Canadian prisons are Indigenous, although Aboriginal people represent just five per cent of Canada’s population. Blackburn’s prints allude to the ways confinement, cultural barriers and prison bars can thwart healing.

A mixed-media installation by Clay Ellis addresses borders from the perspective of his settler heritage. His ancestors, among the first to be lured to Alberta by the promise of farmland, settled near Medicine Hat. 

Ellis is keenly aware of the ironies surrounding his family’s ranch: they took land from Indigenous people and migratory animals, but later, during the Second World War, the Canadian military expropriated a section to test biological and chemical weapons.

His imposing installation, The Block, symbolizes the barricades erected along the border of the military’s land, known as the Suffield Block. Behind the sculptural element is a painting depicting a long row of fiery explosions. It’s only after careful viewing that the reason for a mirrored steel plate beneath the barricade becomes clear: like a distant memory, the reflection of the fiery eruptions becomes a herd of bison. 

Although some works in this show do not address the effects of colonization, many do. Such focus is not coincidental: the Art Gallery of Alberta recently endorsed an anti-racism and equity statement that promises to dismantle structures that perpetuate racism and social inequities. This biennial includes 13 artists who are Indigenous and/or artists of colour; plans for the next biennial include roundtable discussions with the BIPOC community. 

The strong cross-cultural focus makes this biennial both exciting and challenging. The works are subtle: a quick walk through the exhibition may not leave a lasting impression. Taking time to read the didactic panels or join a tour with the gallery’s superbly trained interns will help visitors more fully grasp the artists’ rich insights, humour and lore about the land and its histories. ■ 

borderLINE: 2020 Biennial of Contemporary Art from Sept. 26, 2020 to Jan. 3, 2021 at the Art Gallery of Alberta in Edmonton and from Sept. 26, 2020 to Feb. 14, 2021 at the Remai Modern in Saskatoon. 

The Alberta show includes artists aiya 哎呀, Jason Baerg, Catherine Blackburn, Lori Blondeau, Sean Caulfield, Thirza Jean Cuthand, April Dean, Clay Ellis, Carole Epp, Hali Heavy Shield and Corinne Thiessen, Gwenessa Lam, Martina Lantin, David LaRiviere, Elise Rasmussen, tunnel and Mindy Yan Miller.

The Saskatchewan show includes artists Judy Anderson and Cruz Anderson, Cindy Baker, Elisabeth Belliveau, Heather Benning, Lisa Birke, Bill Burns, Walter Dion, Blair Fornwald and Nic Wilson, Don Gill, Laura Hale, Laura Kinzel, Michèle Mackasey, Barbara Meneley, Tim Moore, Lyndal Osborne, Nurgül Rodriguez and Laura St. Pierre.

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