Once again, the S’eliyemetaxwtexw Art Gallery plays host to a new exhibition. Curated in collaboration between UFV students Megan Ali and Yukun Lin, Portals into Nature is a journey through nature and our everyday environments, as shown through the eyes of the artists. The exhibition — running from Oct. 16 to Nov. 8 — is a collection of work including sculpture, photography, mixed-media, and paintings that represent the connection between humanity and nature, while reflecting on our place in the world around us.
The collection features pieces of the curators’ own work, as well as work from contributing artists: Ruby Woo, Cobi Timmermans, Jacquelines Pan, Devins Pigeau, and Arty Urdabayev. Each artist’s participation in the collaboration works to support the vision of the exhibition in a cohesive way.
For both Lin and Ali, curating a gallery exhibition was a new experience. Reflecting back to last spring, when they first answered the gallery’s open call for artists, Lin said, “Curating is something we didn’t expect at all,” with Ali adding, “I never thought I would do that.” The initial hope was only to find a space where they could showcase their work.
Transitioning from creating art to also curating a gallery exhibition was quite the process. Not only did Lin and Ali need to prepare pieces for display, they also needed to connect and collaborate with other artists to help fill the space with works that complimented each other and contributed to the overall theme. When asked about the challenges faced, Ali said, “I think my least favourite part was just how busy I was… It was a lot. But I also found that it pushed me to limits where I was like, ‘Okay, I can do this.’ It taught me new things about myself.”
In Ali’s featured sculptural series, Growing and Changing Always, mixed media sculptures of twisting wire and vibrantly painted clay pay homage to our ever-changing bodies, as well as the fluidity of our perceptions and emotions connected to such change. The series is designed to evoke feelings of self-acceptance and understanding, while embracing the natural changes we face — encouraging everyone to connect, as Ali hopes, “their own memories and experiences through our artwork.”
The exhibition as a whole asks its viewers to shift their perspectives and see the ordinary parts of life as something extraordinary. With the large scale prints of Woo’s and Lin’s street photography featured on the gallery walls, seemingly everyday, mundane aspects of life are shown in a new perspective.
“I think for me this series is like a personal project… this is my way to figure out the city,” said Lin. Talking about his inspiration for the photos, he said, “I tried to find some interesting angles to discover the city.” These photos, capturing ordinary moments, freeze them in time, adding significance to scenes that many of us pass daily without a second thought, from traffic and construction to quiet afternoons reading in a café.
When asked what he hopes people take away from the exhibition and his work, Lin said, “Hopefully we can take more [time] for the details… Seeing the details of the cities, seeing… more details [in our] daily lives.”
The exhibition asks viewers to shift their perspectives, and see the ordinary parts of life as something extraordinary. Both Ali and Lin agree that the experience has been a beneficial one. “I think it’s great for both of us, careerwise,” Lin said, with Ali adding that “it pushed us to see the perspective of putting everything together in different settings, rather than individually.”
***Portals into Nature* remains open in the S’eliyemetaxwtexw Art Gallery until Friday, Nov. 8. To celebrate the exhibition, there will be a closing reception held in the gallery at 5:30 p.m. on that date. Attendance is free and open to the public.
Elyssa is a BSc student, pursuing studies in Physical Geography while also entertaining her creative side within the visual arts. She is currently the Creative Director here with the Cascade. Having previously been an Illustrator, Production Assistant, and Production Manager, she's been around a while. In her free time she can often be found knitting and watching reruns of outdated shows from the 80s.
