Entanglements

Entanglements | Emmêlements

This exhibition focuses on our entanglement with ecological communities.

L’Hirondelle reflects upon eels in the Ottawa River, the possibilities of their desires and cross species communication.  Phipps’ installation is comprised of home-made gummies modelled using shells and fish to consider the relationship between histories of consumption and extinction narratives.  McMaster’s photographs witness the impact of insect decline, sparking a rethinking of more-than-human relations. Hublots, an installation by The Macronauts, visualizes drifting microscopic plankton as it transacts with other matter including microplastics.

These artists draw our attention to ecological precarity and suggest how reconceptualizing interspecies entanglements could catalyze alternate futures.

This exhibition was produced through my work at Artengine in collaboration with Celina Jeffery.

Celina Jeffery is an Associate Professor of Art History at the University of Ottawa. She has curated exhibitions that consider the visual cultures of climate change and oceanic degradation, the most recent of which was the SSHRC funded Ephemeral Coast (2015-2020). Ephemeral Coast – Visualizing Coastal Climate Change, an edited anthology which parallels her curatorial project, was published by Vernon Press in 2022. ephemeralcoast.com

Meryl McMaster

These companion images were taken in the forests of Manitoulin Island and among the coastal ice flows of Lake Erie. Covering me are various insect species – members of a poorly understood, often hidden but important class of lifeforms. There are millions of insect species that are unknown but play an important role in ecological equilibrium. To me, they represent the fragile, harmonious balance that we are a part of and that we must take care to protect. To be in their presence is to be witness to the power of life in a raw and beautiful form. Their silence is a warning that we are falling into a disharmonious condition. 

Meryl McMaster is a Canadian artist with nêhiyaw (Plains Cree), British and Dutch ancestry. Her work is predominantly photography-based, incorporating the production of props, sculptural garments and performance forming a synergy that transports the viewer out of the ordinary and into a space of contemplation and introspection. She explores the self in relation to land, lineage, history, culture and the more-than-human world.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge that the exhibition is situated on the unceded Territory of the Anishinaabe Algonquin Nation whose presence here reaches back to time immemorial.

This exhibition was postponed twice due to the pandemic. We are extremely grateful to the staff of Karsh-Masson Gallery who have been incredibly supportive during these difficult times.

We are grateful to the Department of Visual Arts, University of Ottawa, where Celina Jeffery, Ryan Stec, and Sasha Phipps all work.

Celina Jeffery gratefully acknowledges the Social Sciences and Humanities Council of Canada (SSHRC) for funding aspects of this exhibition. In turn, she is grateful for the funding that allowed her to hire the following students Anna Paluch, Zeina Hamod, and Madeleine Merritt, all of whom supported various aspects of the exhibition over the course of its three years of planning. 

Cheryl L’Hirondelle gratefully acknowledges the Canada Council for the Arts for their Creating, Knowing and Sharing grant.

The Macronauts gratefully acknowledgeChristian Sardet, Guillaume Cavalier and their beloved collaborators: Sharif, Mathilde, Valentin, Clotilde and Clément, Gilles et Adèle Captains of the Woy Woy, Pépé Ardens, and Studio friends, as well as partners Ecomaris, Oceanographic Observatory of Villefranche-sur-Mer, Tara Ocean Foundation.

Meryl McMaster gratefully acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, as well as the Stephen Bulger Gallery and Pierre-François Ouellette art contemporain.

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Exhibition Walkthrough