Lisa Wood – SHIFT/WORK: Portraits of Precarity

School of Art Gallery, University of Manitoba

With contributing artists Renata Truelove, Michael Vachon, and Dhairya Vaidya.
Researched in collaboration with Dr. Breanna Lawrence and Dr. Rachel Herron.
Guest writers: Kerri-Lynn Reeves and Chelsey Campbell

March 5 – May 1, 2026
Opening Reception: March 5, 2026, 5:00 – 8:00pm
School of Art Gallery, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg

Dangle/Knots, Lisa Wood, Renata Truelove, 2025. Oil paint and coloured pencil on drafting film; paper sculpture element from reproductions of artwork by D.Vaidya. Photo: Doug Derksen

SHIFT/WORK: Portraits of Precarity is a multimedia research-creation project by artist Lisa Wood. The exhibition emerges from Precarious Work and Mental Health: Exploring Uncertainty through Research-Creation, a multidisciplinary initiative supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Developed with counselling psychologist Breanna Lawrence (University of Victoria) and rural health geographer Rachel Herron (Brandon University), the project centers the lived experiences of rural Manitobans navigating insecure and contract-based work.

Bringing together more than two years of research, the exhibition features layered paintings, sculptural forms, sound works, and narrative drawings. Created by Wood with artist research assistants Renata Truelove, Michael Vachon, and Dhairya Vaidya, the works draw from interviews and participant responses. Rather than illustrating data, the artworks translate personal reflections into visual and sensory forms that address uncertainty, adaptation, and the impact of precarious employment on family life.

Operating at the intersection of community engagement, academic research, and artistic production, SHIFT/WORK treats these approaches as interconnected. A brochure accompanying the exhibition includes a collaborative text by guest writers Chelsey Campbell and Kerri-Lynn Reeves, commissioned by the School of Art Gallery.

About the Artist

Lisa Wood is a visual artist, mother, and partner of Scottish-Icelandic Canadian settler ancestry living in Treaty 2 Territory (Brandon, Manitoba). Her figurative practice—shaped by her upbringing with her single mother and her life-long chronic health conditions—investigates inclusion, marginalization, and interpersonal connection.

Wood received her BFA from the University of Manitoba and her MFA from Yale University. She has received numerous awards and scholarships and exhibits her paintings and prints nationally and internationally. She is currently Associate Professor in the IshKaabatens Waasa Gaa Inaabateg Department of Visual Art at Brandon University.

Contributing Artists

Renata Truelove is an emerging artist and recent Brandon University graduate, majoring in Psychology and minoring in Drawing. Aspiring to work in art therapy, she is interested in how creative expression promotes well-being and serves as a research modality. SHIFT/WORK provided an opportunity to integrate her interests in creative learning and mental health research.

Michael Vachon is a Drawing major pursuing his BFA at Brandon University. Raised on a family farm outside Oak Lake, Manitoba, he brings first-hand experience of precarious work and rural life to the project. He was commissioned to contribute drawings to Uncut: A Cultural Analysis of the Foreskin by Dr. Jonathan Allan and is set to become the first visual art student to graduate from Brandon University’s Co-op program in 2027.

Dhairya Vaidya, born in Gujarat, India in 2002, works across acrylic, watercolour, oil, graphite, charcoal, coloured pencil, and hybrid traditional-digital processes. He is pursuing his BFA in drawing and digital art through a joint program between Brandon University and Assiniboine College.

Technical Support

Brendon Ehinger is a Red River Métis/Settler multi-instrumentalist and sound artist based in Brandon, MB. As audio technician for the project, he created thematically organized sound works from interview recordings. Since 2016, he has used modular synthesis, acoustic instrumentation, live mic input, and field recordings to explore relationships between technology and the environment. He has performed in alternative spaces, galleries, and venues in Canada and Europe.

Researchers

Breanna Lawrence, PhD, is Associate Professor in Educational Psychology and Leadership Studies at the University of Victoria and Principal Investigator for Precarious Work and Mental Health: Exploring Uncertainty through Research-Creation. Her research explores intersections of mental health, career, and learning through ecological resilience and relational developmental systems frameworks.

Rachel Herron, PhD, is Professor in Geography and Environment at Brandon University, Tier II Canada Research Chair in Rural and Remote Mental Health, and founding Director of the Centre for Critical Studies of Rural Mental Health. Her research examines safety in care settings, social inclusion, and diverse experiences of mental health.

Guest Writers

Text written in collaborative dialogue by Chelsey Campbell and Kerri-Lynn Reeves in ᐊᒥᐢᑿᒌᐚᐢᑲᐦᐃᑲᐣ / Amiskwacîwâskahikan / Edmonton / Treaty 6 Territory.

Chelsey Campbell (they/them) is a queer crip artist, educator, and activist whose work explores disability justice, feminized care labour, and crip kinship through autoethnographic storytelling and community-based practices. They hold a BFA and MFA from the University of Alberta and teach at MacEwan University and the University of Alberta.

Kerri-Lynn Reeves is an artist, educator, and mother from rural Manitoba (Treaty 2 territory). Through craft-based material practices, she explores relationships between social and material worlds, blurring boundaries between life, art, teaching, and parenting. Reeves holds a BFA from the University of Manitoba and an MFA from Concordia University and is Associate Professor in Studio Arts at MacEwan University.

About the School of Art Gallery

The School of Art Gallery has been serving the School of Art, the University of Manitoba, and broader communities since it was established in 1965 as Gallery One One One. The Gallery exhibits and collects contemporary and historical art addressing a range of practices and perspectives. Exhibitions and collections are complemented by engaging outreach programs and publications.

Acknowledgments

The University of Winnipeg and the University of Manitoba campuses are located on the original lands of Anishinaabeg, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota and Dene peoples, and on the homeland of the Métis Nation. We respect the Treaties that were made on these territories, we acknowledge the harms and mistakes of the past, and we dedicate ourselves to move forward in partnership with Indigenous communities in a spirit of reconciliation and collaboration.

School of Art Gallery
255 ARTlab, 180 Dafoe Road
University of Manitoba (Fort Garry campus)
Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2
gallery@umanitoba.ca | 204-474-9322
umanitoba.ca/art/gallery