Return, an artistic program featuring the work of contemporary feminist photographers Nancy Bleck (Vancouver) and Eileen Leier (Kamloops), will open Saturday, Jan. 27, at the Comox Valley Art Gallery.
The day will begin at 11 a.m. with the artists leading a community conversation that explores perception and relationship to the land and its bordering waterways.
People of all ages are invited to attend and participate.
Bleck and Leier will then deliver an artist talk at 1 p.m., followed by an opening reception.
All of Saturday’s events are free and everyone is welcome to attend.
Pre-registration is encouraged for the 11 a.m. community conversation, but drop-ins are also welcome. The event will involve a walk, and the sharing of stories, images, and text. Children must be accompanied by an adult.
Pre-register by calling CVAG at (250) 338-6211 (ext. 0) or e-mailing gallery@comoxvalleyartgallery.com.
Return will run at CVAG until March 23. The idea of returning is the pivotal concept of this thematic program; within each return there is change, over time and in relation to shifting contexts and perspectives.
Leier will present Sqlelten7úw’i – Red Salmon – Sockeye: reconsidering the Adams River Run, which looks at local salmon stream ecologies and is comprised of extensive photographic and video documentation of the recurring salmon returns at Roderick Haig-Brown provincial park.
Bleck will present new projects woven together with selected works from five portfolios produced over a 20-year span.
In a recent body of work, she documented all nations uniting at the Sacred Stone Camp, supporting the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, in North Dakota, and the ongoing resistance to the Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion in the Burrard Inlet, Tsleil Waututh territory.
The gallery is closed for installation, but work is installed in the CVAG window gallery and can be viewed anytime (580 Duncan Ave, Courtenay).
The CVAG shop is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Saturday.
For more information, visit comoxvalleyartgallery.com.