Marlene Jess: Shovelling Piles

Parking Lot Annex (video still)

Centre[3] for Artistic + Social Practice presents:

Shovelling Piles
Marlene Jess

January 4 – February 22, 2019
Opening reception: Friday January 10, (7:00 pm to 10:00 pm) during Hamilton Art Crawl.
Live performance starting at 8pm

Marlene Jess considers her working class upbringing critical to her artistic inquiry. In this exhibition, Jess explores self-initiated physical labour through shovelling. Utilizing a dissatisfaction with her participation in advanced capitalism as a starting point, Jess draws connections between the futility of shovelling piles as an action and the viewer’s positionality within capitalist society. Jess views movement, physicality, and bodily presence as sites of agency and momentary emancipation. Through the completion of self-initiated physical labour, Jess seeks to explore something other than a traditional notion of productivity. As Jess shovels in pursuit of embodied knowledge, we might consider the potential of having power under this homogenous system and what it means to hold agency and resist.

Marlene Jess is a fifth generation French-Canadian settler currently situated on unceded First Nations Territory of the Lekwungen, Coast Salish, and WSÁNEĆ peoples called Saanich. It is located on what is now known as southern Vancouver Island in the Pacific Northwest. Jess recently completed a Master of Fine Arts degree at Emily Carr University in Vancouver, B.C., and has completed projects and presented work in Canada at venues such as Media Net (Victoria, B.C.), The Ministry of Casual Living (Victoria, B.C.), Harcourt House (Edmonton, Alberta), Open Space (Victoria, B.C.), The Art Gallery of Greater Victoria (B.C.), The Khyber (Halifax, Nova Scotia), and in Portland, Oregon at Sea Change Gallery and Launchpad Gallery.

Vacant Lot (video still)

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Accessibility:
Our 173 James North location is partially physically accessible. We have a level entrance leading to our shop, information desk, galleries, washroom and traditional print studio. Unfortunately, we do not have automatic doors or an elevator. Our silkscreen studios and digital lab are only accessible by stairs. We are working toward becoming a physically accessible space in the future.

Media Contact: info@centre3.com

Centre[3] for Artistic + Social Practice
www.centre3.com
173 James St. N,
Hamilton, ON
L8R 2K9
905.524.5084

Hours:
Monday – Friday: 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Saturday: 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.