The Mall

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Jude Griebel, “Self-Contained,” 2022

wood and air-drying clays (courtesy the artist, photo by Blaine Campbell)

Turn a corner in West Edmonton Mall and you might stumble across a replica of the Augustus of Prima Porta, the Vatican Museum’s statue of Roman emperor Augustus Caesar. Arm raised, hip cocked, the statue is completely out of place, yet also right at home. 

Artists have had an uneasy relationship with the mall since it opened in 1981, feeling both attracted and repelled by its excesses, sometimes at the same time. This tension is apparent in The Mall, a group show on view at the Mitchell Art Gallery in Edmonton until April 1. It includes work by 10 artists and spans some three decades. 

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“The Mall,” 2023

installation view at Mitchell Art Gallery, Edmonton (courtesy MAG, photo by Blaine Campbell)

Vancouver artist Vikky Alexander’s four Citachrome images from 1986, West Edmonton Mall #1 through #4, beckon viewers with bisecting diagonal lines, chrome railings and mirrored walls. Fragmented reflections of passersby comingle with palm fronds in the mall’s fake jungle. Taken from a high vantage point, the images’ tilting angles echo those of surveillance cameras. This is a space to view and be viewed, where shoppers are part of the spectacle.

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Cheyenne Rain LeGrande, “ayiwinisa,” 2023

digital photos on vinyl taken by Nikaeo LeGrande (courtesy the artist, photo by Blaine Campbell)

At the show’s entrance, three large photographs by Nehiyaw Isko artist Cheyenne Rain LeGrande play with the idea of display. Dressed for a runway, LeGrande stares straight out, surrounded by the gaudy decor of Galaxyland, the mall’s custom-built amusement park. Her gaze is impassive. Look closely at her clothes and you’ll see Cree syllabics. LeGrande’s presence is both a statement and a question: Who were these spaces built for, and who is missing?

Calgary-based artist Morgan Melenka’s Phase III Triptych, composed of two Diabond prints that flank a gold enamel structure built of MDF, comments on the mall’s constructed identity. With a background in set design, Melenka is interested in how cheap materials can be used to create grand facades. Her triptych echoes the glass squares of the mall’s domed ceiling, as well as its fountains and the looping railings on Europa Boulevard, a pseudo-European street. 

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Morgan Melenka, “Phase III Triptych,” 2022

Diabond print and enamel on MDF (courtesy the artist, photo by Blaine Campbell)

Known for his humorous miniatures, Jude Griebel, who works between Bergen, Alta., and Brooklyn, N.Y., focuses on capitalist excess. His piece, Self-Contained, is shaped like a pinball machine. Made from wood and air-drying clays, it features tiny cars, parking lots, storefronts and a long kidney-shaped pool with dozens of swimmers. The structure has arms that clutch a drink and a shopping bag. At the top is a leaping dolphin, an homage to Howard, the last of four performing dolphins. Three dolphins died in Edmonton in 2000, 2001 and 2003, while Howard died in 2005, a year after moving to an aquatic park in Florida. 

Many Edmonton residents have a story about the mall. Edmonton artist Vikki Wiercinski’s collaborative memory map, WEMories, allows visitors to add their WEM memories about first dates, getting into trouble or hanging out with friends. As online shopping grows in popularity, this installation highlights the people who animate the space and bring the mall to life. 

In a prairie city where historical buildings often get razed in the name of progress, West Edmonton Mall has endured, despite losing its cachet as the largest mall in the world. The exhibition’s co-curator, Carolyn Jervis, acknowledges malls are not a rarefied form of culture, but they are rich sites where kitsch and class, as well as reality and identity, collide. She notes the public’s warm reception for the show and says it is important for artists to reflect local culture, even if it’s not appreciated elsewhere.

“We have to assert the value of our own place for ourselves,” she says. ■

The Mall, at the Mitchell Art Gallery at MacEwan University in Edmonton from Jan. 20 to April 1, 2023. Curated by Carolyn Jervis and Hannah Quimper-Swiderski with works by Vikky Alexander, Cindy Baker, Michelle Campos Castillo, David Clark and Devin Chambers, Dan Graham, Jude Griebel, Cheyenne Rain LeGrande, Morgan Melenka and Vikki Wiercinski.

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