Screenshot of the Senate of Canada's virtual exhibition "Cultivating Perspectives."
A train station bench from 1912, a colourful painting of a family in the Yukon and a bust of the first francophone woman named to the Senate – these works and more have been brought together in the Senate of Canada’s new virtual exhibition Cultivating Perspectives.
The exhibition includes 13 works from the Senate’s art collection, chosen by 13 curators, one from each of Canada’s provinces and territories. Every piece is accompanied by a 500-word essay that deepens understandings and makes surprising connections between different parts of the country across history.
Sen. Patricia Bovey, the chair of the advisory group that organized the exhibition, says that when people go to the website, they will see a “cross-Canada dialogue between the work of art … and the writer.”
“I was really pleased with the different perspectives, the different viewpoints, the richness of information that came out,” says Bovey, the former director of the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria and the Winnipeg Art Gallery.
The plan is to make Cultivating Perspectives an annual project, and Bovey is looking for another 13 curators for the next round. If you're a curator interested in participating, she wants to hear from you.
“The more we can do, the more voices the Senate’s going to hear and Canada’s going to hear and see,” she says.
Source: Senate of Canada