On the occasion of Gallery 44’s 40th Anniversary, we are proud to present A maze of collapsing lines, a hybrid online exhibition and publication. Comprised of five chapters, each will feature contemporary lens-based work by artists from different regions of Canada, and associated programming. Gallery 44 is excited to be collaborating with Northern B.C. artist Tricia Livingston, Toronto-based collective Black Artists Union, the Inuit Art Foundation, Ociciwan Contemporary Art Collective from Edmonton and Saskatoon-based AKA Artist-Run Center. This digital publication considers shifting notions of geographical and virtual spaces, perceived sensations of groundlessness, and how a gallery rooted in lens-based imagery can use the web to expand dialogues on contemporary image culture and artist-run platforms.

This project’s title conjures imagery of lines in a state of collapse, indicating multiple ways of moving and seeing. Our approach marks an intentional departure from the way we usually work within the gallery context – a deviation from that which is spatially, temporally and logically linear. To navigate this, a horizontal layout is used in reference to lateral thinking, collaboration, and to espouse connections between that which is both geographically and conceptually disparate.

In the indeterminate space that many artist-run cultures inhabit, how can we leverage our networks to build conversations that are less reliant on singular, locative, physical containers? The digital nature of this publication allows us to extend our reach, regardless of situated geography, while accompanying site-specific programming puts multiple locations in conversation with one another. We hope this project will serve to expand the networks between artist-run centres and their communities while considering the productivity, and new ways of seeing, that multiple perspectives offer.

Tricia Livingston, Methodologies of Discomfort, 2012 – 16.

Chapter 1
Methodologies of Discomfort: Tricia Livingston

Methodologies of Discomfort is a series of self-portraits taken by Tricia Livingston via her computer while crying. Although the series is ongoing, the images presented here were taken between 2012-16, a time in Livingston’s life when she was experiencing displacement, sadness, worry, a prevailing feeling of ungroundedness, and exhaustion from the constant burden of having to navigate colonial forces. Since this time, she made the difficult decision to return to her home community in northern British Columbia. While researching Livingston’s practice, I noticed that at one point she removed this series from her website. I reached out to her about the work and we began a dialogue, which forms the basis of this chapter.

Our discussion of Methodologies of Discomfort opened up a conversation on trauma, Indigenous-non-Indigenous relations, the continued failure of colonial institutions, libraries, language revitalization, and land. Echoing how Livingston originally presented the digitally rendered photographs, they are shown here in a horizontal, algorithmically random sequence, along with randomized fragments of text from our conversations. Each viewer accessing the Chapter will see a different, randomly generated constellation of images and texts.
– Heather Rigg

And then your heart will go into a good place

Collage Event at Gallery 44
June 11, 2019, 6:30-8:30pm

Coinciding with Chapter 1, Indigenous and non-Indigenous people will be invited to participate in a photo collaging workshop event at Gallery 44 on Tuesday June 11 from 6:30-8:30 PM. Digital photographs have been collected from members of Livingston’s home community and sent to Gallery 44 to be printed. These photos are landscape images that community photographers were moved to capture while out on the land in Tsek’ene/Tahltan/Kaska territory. Participants in this workshop are invited to create loving and encouraging messages addressed to on-reserve Indigenous children and youth. These collaged images will be returned to the artists’ home community and hung up in The Healing Home to decorate the interior walls. This event is free to the public, and pre-registration is not required. For more information, please email heather@gallery44.org

Gallery 44 is looking to our community of supporters to complete the fundraising for this online and public programming initiative, and has started a campaign through Fundrazr. The Bulmash-Siegel Fund, a long-time member and supporter of Gallery 44, will match every dollar raised, with a contribution of up to $3500.

Please consider donating to A maze of collapsing lines! Gallery 44 is a not-for-profit artist-run centre and charitable organization. Donations of all sizes are welcome – every little bit helps! All donors gifting $25 or more will receive a copy of Gallery 44’s 35th Anniversary publication, Reflections Refractions. Those who are able to donate $40 or more for Gallery 44’s 40th Anniversary will also be credited on the online publication’s Supporter page.

We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.
Nous remercions le Conseil des arts du Canada de son soutien.

Gallery 44 is open Tuesday to Saturday 11AM to 5PM | Free admission
Gallery 44 Centre for Contemporary Photography is a charitable, non-profit, artist-run centre committed to supporting multi-faceted approaches to photography and lens-based media. Founded in 1979 to establish a supportive environment for the development of artistic practice, Gallery 44’s mandate is to provide a context for meaningful reflection and dialogue on contemporary photography.

Gallery 44 is committed to programs that reflect the continuously changing definition of photography by presenting a wide range of practices that engage timely and critical explorations of the medium. Through exhibitions, public engagement, education programs and production facilities our objective is to explore the artistic, cultural, historic, social and political implications of the image in our ever-expanding visual world.

Gallery 44 Centre for Contemporary Photography
401 Richmond Street West, Suite 120
Toronto, Ontario M5V 3A8
www.gallery44.org
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Gallery 44 is wheelchair accessible.

For further details, please contact:
Heather Rigg
Curator of Exhibitions and Public Programs
heather@gallery44.org
416.979.3941 ext. 3