Deanna Bowen
Stories To Pass On…
April 29 - September 23, 2011
College Art Gallery 2
Curated by Carl Lavoy
Stories to pass on…, is comprised of two installation works: Gospel (2008) and Shadow on the Prairie (2009). Both are a result of Bowen’s efforts to trace her great grandparents’ migration from Alabama to Western Canada.
Gospel is a suite of works that explore complex notions of trauma and recurrent sorrow. Alternately framed as a song of loss and longing, the combined works form a surreal semi-autobiographical account of a daughter's repudiation of mother, family, and home. The suite combines photographs of found hymn books, a sculptural/audio work, and a single channel video projection that uses appropriated footage from American director King Vidor's film Hallelujah and John Stahl & Douglas Sirk‘s Imitation of Life. Shadow on the Prairie derives its name and overarching narrative from the National Film Board of Canada’s 1952 film adaptation of Gweneth Lloyd’s seminal ballet Shadow on the Prairie: A Canadian Ballet. Performed by the Royal Winnipeg Ballet Company in 1952, the dance tells the story of Canada’s western settlement by means of a tragic tale of a once hopeful woman’s desperate struggle with the harsh landscape. Isolated by a long bleak winter, the young bride’s dreams of a new life with her pioneer husband fade away as she descends into a madness that leads to death. Finding affinities between Lloyd’s portrayal of the challenges of pioneer life and Bowen’s own family narrative, the semi-autobiographical work explores a family rumour about her great uncle, an allegedly closeted gay actor & nightclub singer who played in all-black revues of Vancouver's supper club circuit in the 1930s through the 1950s.
Organized by the Thames Art Gallery in partnership with the College Art Galleries, Esplanade Arts & Heritage Centre, Moose Jaw Museum & Art Gallery, and The Reach Gallery Museum.The College Art Galleries would like to acknowledge the support of the University of Saskatchewan, Sask Culture, Saskatchewan Arts Board, Toronto Arts Council, Ontario Arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts.
Organized by the Thames Art Gallery the College Art Galleries, Esplanade Arts & Heritage Centre, Moose Jaw Museum & Art Gallery and Reach Gallery Muesum
About the Artist
Deanna Bowen is an artist and lecturer at the University of Toronto, Scarborough. She received her Masters degree in Visual Art at the University of Toronto in 2008 and her Diploma of Fine Arts from Emily Carr College of Art and Design in 1992. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally in numerous film festivals and galleries.
