from where the grain itself can speak

Lars Haukaness, William Kurelek, Morgan Possberg, Åsa Sonjasdotter, Slinko

Åsa Sonjasdotter, Cultivating Abundance [still], 2022. Digital video (colour, sound). Courtesy of the Artist and Filmform.

from where the grain itself can speak
Lars Haukaness, William Kurelek, Morgan Possberg, Åsa Sonjasdotter, Slinko

Curated by Carolyn Jervis and Theo Donovan

January 16 – March 28, 2026
Opening Reception: Thursday, January 15, 6 – 8pm
John & Maggie Mitchell Art Gallery, Edmonton

from where the grain itself can speak features artwork, historical and contemporary, that gives voice to the plant, human, and interspecies relationships that persist through and despite agricultural methods. The work of local and international artists featured here personalize the complex histories, politics, and ideologies embedded in industrial wheat farming. Their stories demonstrate the failure of monocultures of the mind to eradicate alternatives they make more difficult to thrive, as if pesticide-resistant weeds or the relentless reproduction of gophers in a field.

We live in a moment of increased food insecurity alongside an uptick in authoritarianism and resistance to acting on a climate emergency that threatens international and industrialized food systems. These artworks invite us to listen to the stories the grain itself tells us about possible alternative futures.

Related Programming

Opening Reception
Thursday, January 15, 2026, 6 – 8pm
Mitchell Art Gallery

Online Artist Panel with Morgan Possberg, Åsa Sonjasdotter, Slinko
Friday, February 6, 2026, 12 – 1pm
Online through Zoom

About the Mitchell Art Gallery

The John and Maggie Mitchell Art Gallery is MacEwan University’s public art gallery dedicated to engaging timely conversations and community through contemporary art. The gallery supports interdisciplinary, experiential learning for the public and for the university community. Located in the heart of downtown Edmonton in MacEwan University’s Allard Hall, Mitchell Art Gallery programming also serves the local community through emphasizing safe, collaborative and relevant opportunities for learning and visual literacy development.

Mitchell Art Gallery
11-121, Allard Hall
MacEwan University
11110 – 104 Avenue
Edmonton, AB T5K 1M9
MacEwan.ca/MitchellArtGallery
mitchellartgallery@macewan.ca

Instagram @mitchellartgallery

Accessibility:
The Mitchell Art Gallery and Allard Hall are accessible spaces with automatic doors, elevators, and accessible washrooms. Detailed accessibility information can be found on our website.

Image Description:
Still frame from a video with white subtitles at the bottom. Pictured in the stills are close up shots of green wheat stalks in a field. The subtitles at the bottom say “And that the plants are signaling something.”