The UNB Art Centre launches a new group exhibition on April 29 at 5 p.m. curated by Amy Ash, an independent curator and artist based in Saint John, New Brunswick. As we emerge from a global pandemic, the exhibit it comes in waves observes the nature of absence through the work of seven contemporary artists: Emily Critch, Chantal Khoury, Adriana Kuiper & Ryan Suter, Lou Sheppard, KC Wilcox, and Florence Yee.
it comes in waves refers to the sensation of becoming awash in the haze of emotions, memories, and associations that result from grief, loss, and other confrontations of absence.
Presented in both the East and West galleries, the works included in it comes in waves hold space for contemplation and the quiet construction of meaning, while boldly facing the uncanny sensation that something is lost or missing. From climate devastation and personal loss, to broken expectations, this group exhibition explores grief as a means of understanding what we value.
Curator Amy Ash explains, "A conversation about loss or grief is equally a conversation about what we value. This is crucial to consider not only while reflecting on the past or on the construction of our individual identities, but as means of collectively envisioning a future that we would hope to inhabit."
it comes in waves brings together a diverse group of artists who work across media ranging from textiles, printmaking, and painting, to video, audio, and sculpture. The exhibit will be on view in-person at the UNB Art Centre from April 29 to June 17, 2022 and online through our Online Galleries.
Visit the East Gallery
Visit the West Gallery
Read Exhibition Essay
Virtual Exhibition Tour
The UNB Art Centre is located at Memorial Hall, 9 Bailey Drive, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton. The galleries are open 9 am - 4 pm weekdays and during special events. Admission is free to members of the public, however masks are required.
Emily Critch is a Mi'kmaw and settler artist, curator, and writer from Elmastukwek, Ktaqmkuk Territory (Bay of Islands, NL). She received her BFA in Visual Arts from Memorial University of Newfoundland (2018). She has had solo exhibitions of her work at the Tina Dolter Gallery, Eastern Edge, St. Michaels Printshop (NL), and Galerie Sans Nom (Moncton, NB). Her work has been included in group exhibitions at the Grenfell Art Gallery (Corner Brook, NL). The Rooms (St. John's, NL), and Hafnarborg (Hafnarfjörður, Iceland), and her art practice has been supported by ArtsNL. She has been the recipient of several awards including the 2020 VANL Cox & Palmer Pivotal Point Grant, the 2020-2021 Don Wright Scholarship at St. Michael’s Printshop, and was longlisted for the 2021 Scotiabank New Generation Photography Award,. She is based in St. John's, NL, working remotely as the Program Coordinator with the Indigenous Curatorial Collective, and the 2021-23 Adjunct Curator with the Owen's Art Gallery.
@emilycritchart
Image credit: courtesy of the artist
Chantal Khoury's practice is framed by transnational art histories, diaspora discourses, and methodical techniques. She leans into abstraction by refusing strict definitions, using disorientation to resurrect motifs and ahistorical forms of diaspora experience. Of Lebanese descent and born on the unceded territory of the Wolastoqiyik and Mi'kmaq First Nations (New Brunswick), she lived in Tiohtia:ke (Montreal) from 2006 until she relocated to Ontario in 2019. Key exhibitions include: Birch Contemporary (2021), the Beaverbrook Art Gallery (2020), the Orillia Museum of Art and History (2017). Her work is included in the collections of the Royal Bank of Canada, the Art Gallery of Guelph, and the University of New Brunswick, as well as private collections across North America and Lebanon.
@chanti.kho
Image credit: José Andrés Mora
Adriana Kuiper and Ryan Suter, based in Sackville NB, have worked in collaboration since 2010.
Together they have completed public site-specific works in the Magdalen Islands, QC; Halifax, NS, Dawson City, YK, and Cologne Germany, and have exhibited at galleries across Canada - most recently at Contemporary Calgary, Waterloo University Art Gallery, and the Owens Art Gallery, in Sackville, N.B.
Kuiper completed her BA at the University of Guelph and her MFA at the University of Western Ontario. Her work has been shown across Canada and internationally in Oslo, Norway. She is a professor in sculpture and drawing at Mount Allison University.
Suter is a multimedia artist who holds a BFA from the University of Ottawa and an MFA from the University of Guelph. He has worked as an arts administrator in artist-run centres for the past 15 years and has taught a variety of courses at the Nova Scotia of Art and Design and Mount Allison University. His work has been shown at artist-run centres across Canada.
@adrianakuiper
@kuiper_suter_studio
@rcsuter
Image credit: courtesy of the artists
Lou Sheppard works in interdisciplinary audio, performance and installation based practice. His work pays queer attention to systems of meaning-making and how these systems construct and order our bodies and environments. His research is often evidenced through graphic notations, scripts and scores which are then performed in collaboration with other artists and in community gatherings. Lou has been long listed for the Sobey Award in 2018, 2020 and 2021, and was the recipient of the Emerging Atlantic Artist Award in 2017. He has participated in the Toronto Biennial, the Antarctic Biennial, and is currently completing a public art commission for the Broadway Subway Project in Vancouver, BC. Of Irish, English and Scottish descent Lou is a settler on the traditional and unceded territory of the Mi'kmaq in Mi’kma’ki/Nova Scotia.
@shep_shape
Image credit: Samson Learn
Lan, formerly known as Florence Yee, is now transitioning in their professional and personal life.
Florence Yee is a visual artist and serial collaborator based in Tkaronto/Toronto and Tiohtià:ke/Mooniyang/Montreal. They collect text in underappreciated places and ferment it until it is too suspicious to ignore. Florence's work has been exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Art (2021), the Art Gallery of Ontario (2020), the Textile Museum of Canada (2020), and the Gardiner Museum (2019), and many others. Along with Arezu Salamzadeh, they co-founded the Chinatown Biennial in 2020. They obtained a BFA from Concordia University and an MFA from OCAD U.
@Lan.florence.yee
Image credit: Jordan Dawson
Lou Sheppard works in interdisciplinary audio, performance and installation based practice. His work pays queer attention to systems of meaning-making and how these systems construct and order our bodies and environments. His research is often evidenced through graphic notations, scripts and scores which are then performed in collaboration with other artists and in community gatherings. Lou has been long listed for the Sobey Award in 2018, 2020 and 2021, and was the recipient of the Emerging Atlantic Artist Award in 2017. He has participated in the Toronto Biennial, the Antarctic Biennial, and is currently completing a public art commission for the Broadway Subway Project in Vancouver, BC. Of Irish, English and Scottish descent Lou is a settler on the traditional and unceded territory of the Mi'kmaq in Mi’kma’ki/Nova Scotia.
@shep_shape
Image credit: Samson Learn
KC Wilcox is an artist, designer, and illustrator. Her art practice explores human-object interactions through a range of media. KC's work has been presented at THIRD SHIFT (2020 & 2019), the Beaverbrook Art Gallery (2018), and Unlovable Gallery (2017). Recent groups exhibitions include Roadside Attraction, presented by Connexion ARC at Gallery on Queen (2021), and HOST, presented virtually by Third Space Gallery (2021). Her project Shedding, a series of rubber sculptures, was featured on The Exhibitionists on CBC (2019). KC is a descendant of European settlers of French and English heritage. She lives in Menagoesg/Menahqesk (a.k.a. Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada) on the unceded territory of the Wolastoqiyik, Mi'kmaq and Passamaquoddy Peoples.
@kc__wilcox
Image credit: courtesy of the artist
Amy Ash is a queer interdisciplinary artist engaged with collective care through processes of shared meaning-making. Her practice flows from curatorial projects and writing to teaching, socially engaged action, and hands-on making. Often working collaboratively, they playfully disrupt hegemonic systems that support hierarchy by encouraging a polyphony of personal meaning to be created within the context of a shared experience. Amy has exhibited and curated programmes internationally, with projects commissioned by the National Gallery London (UK), the NB International Sculpture Symposium, and the Beaverbrook Art Gallery. Of settler ancestry, she lives as a grateful, but uninvited, guest in Menahqesk/Menagoesg/Saint John, New Brunswick, which sits on the unceeded and unsurrendered territory of the Wolastoqiyik, Peskotomuhkati, and Mi'kmaq Peoples.
@amy_ash_
Image credit: Nienke Izurieta
