Ella Morton: The Residue of Starlight and Spring 2026 Programs at Cambridge Art Galleries

Ella Morton, Tent Rocks, 2025. Lightjet print from 25-years-expired film treated with mordançage, 24″ x 30″ & 16″ x 20″, edition of 10 + 2AP total. Image courtesy of the artist.

Ella Morton: The Residue of Starlight

May 9 – August 8, 2026
Queen’s Square Gallery, Cambridge Art Galleries

Ella Morton’s expedition-based practice has taken her to remote regions across the globe. Working with analogue film and photographic processes, Morton captures landscapes that evoke a profound sense of awe. Having previously traveled to the polar regions of Canada, Nordic Europe, Greenland and Antarctica, her recent body of work, The Residue of Starlight, brings her to equally sublime and volatile landscapes; the deserts of Northern Chile, New Mexico, and Western Australia.

All three locations face similar risks of increasing temperatures, droughts and wildfires as the climate crisis intensifies. All are also home to cultures that have distinctly strong connections to the sky, stars and universe beyond Earth. Captured on 4×5 and 16mm film, the exhibition features a range of experimental analogue photography processes, including mordançage, film soaking and the use of decades-old expired films. Representing a new direction in the artist’s lens-based practice, the images conjure psychedelic dreamscapes that recall the profound awe that is felt in experiencing the desert landscape.

Related Programming

Opening Reception and Artist-led Tour
Saturday, May 9, 1:00pm – 4:00pm
Queen’s Square Gallery, Cambridge Art Galleries

Celebrate the opening of The Residue of Starlight at the Queen’s Square Gallery. Beginning at 1:30pm, Ella Morton will tour visitors through the exhibition. Light snacks and refreshments will be served and all are welcome to attend.

Portrait of artist Ella Morton. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Ella Morton is a visual artist and filmmaker living in Tkarón:to/Toronto. She uses experimental analogue processes to capture the sublime and fragile qualities of remote landscapes. She earned a BFA from Parsons School of Design (New York) and an MFA from York University (Toronto). She has exhibited her work internationally, including shows at Lonsdale Gallery (Toronto), Foley Gallery (New York), 516 Arts (Albuquerque, NM), Photo Cluster (Vienna), Contemporary Calgary (Calgary), SPAO Gallery, (Ottawa), the Turchin Center for the Arts (Boone, NC), Photographic Center Northwest (Seattle) and Hanstholm Art Space (Denmark). Her films have screened internationally, including the Vancouver International Film Festival, International Film Festival Rotterdam, Montreal International Documentary Festival and the Alchemy Film & Media Arts Festival, among others. Her practice has been supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, the National Film Board of Canada and the Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto.

Curated by Karly Boileau, The Residue of Starlight is on display until August 8, 2026 at Cambridge Public Library, Queen’s Square Gallery.

Dianna Lynn VanderMeulen, Gravitational Waters, 2026, 4k video, 5 minutes. Image courtesy of the artist.

Diana Lynn VanderMeulen: Gravitational Waters

May 1 – July 31, 2026
Cambridge Public Library, digital screens at all locations

Gravitational Waters, from Toronto-based artist Diana Lynn VanderMeulen, is part of her ongoing project pixel as a seed. The artist’s rural upbringing inspired her to revisit farmland stewarded by her family since the 1980s, extending her art practice in recent years to include knowledge of heirloom techniques and tools, microbial ecology, and soil health. Viewers are invited to gaze into the pixelated world rendered on the screen, and reflect on how our shared environments are constructed, translated, and reimagined.

Throughout 2026, Cambridge Art Galleries presents digital art in the public spaces of the libraries. The information screens located at all Cambridge Public Library branches will intermittently play animation and video projects from contemporary Canadian artists.

Curated by Žana Kozomora, Gravitational Waters is on display util July 31, 2026.

Also On Display

Belonging: Made by Many
Until May 10, 2026
Cambridge Public Library, Preston Gallery

Sofia Eleni Escobar: Cast Shadow
Until July 11, 2026
Cambridge Public Library, Hespeler

Natalie Hunter: You might as well try and hold the sun
Until August 29, 2026
Cambridge Public Library, Queen’s Square

Belonging: Community Exhibitions
Rotating Exhibitions until December 4, 2026
Cambridge Public Library, Old Post Office

Cambridge Art Galleries
cambridgepl.ca/art
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Cambridge Public Library, Queen’s Square
1 North Square
Cambridge, ON N1S 2K6

Queen’s Square Gallery Hours of Operation
Monday to Thursday, 9:30am – 8:30pm
Friday and Saturday, 9:30am – 5:30pm
Sunday, 1:00pm – 5:00pm *Closed Sundays beginning May 17

Admission is free. All are welcome.

Cambridge Public Library acknowledges that our services and facilities are located on lands that are part of the Haldimand Tract. We recognize the complex history of the Haldimand Tract, the traditional lands of the Haudenosaunee, Anishinaabe, and Chonnonton. We honour the enduring connection between our shared past, collective present, and collective future through listening, reflecting and learning.

Accessibility:
The Cambridge Public Library Board is committed to accessibility. For more information: cambridgepl.ca/accessibility

Media Contact:
Žana Kozomora, Senior Curator
Cambridge Art Galleries
zkozomora@cambridgepl.ca
519-621-0460 ext. 160

We gratefully acknowledge the generous support of the City of Cambridge, Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, and the Government of Ontario.