Fehn Foss, Build Up Break Down, video still, 2018. Courtesy of the artist

Opening reception: March 7, 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Exhibition dates: March 7 – April 7, 2019

In the exhibition A Broader Sense of Belonging featuring video, photography, and poetry, Fehn Foss looks at the blockades that we construct and their impact on our psyche. The dry stone walls in the Irish countryside, which are created from the distinct rock beds of each specific region, are a starting point for the artist. This method of wall building is practiced on most continents, reflecting the similar ingenuity of people, globally. In the performance video, Build Up Break Down, the artist uses her body to build and unbuild a barrier, through repetitive actions. She practices constructing something by hand, making something tall and then knocking it down, replacing the stones to where they were found as way to connect with the land, and connect with the physical labour as a source of respite. However, walls delineate territory so that ownership can be assumed over portions of land. A duality exists between the need to separate from each other and the need to work together. This exhibition offers a moment to consider how this delineation shapes our world, yet how the process of making can restore.

Please join us to celebrate the opening of Fehn Foss: A Broader Sense of Belonging in the Ryerson Image Centre Student Gallery on Thursday, March 7, 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm.

Artist Bio
Fehn Foss is an artist and writer whose practice examines the process of making and how larger political themes can be expressed through personal, quotidian gestures. In her visual practice, Foss works with photography and video as her means of investigation. In both her writing and visual works, she takes interest in capturing daily routines, and searching out the quiet aches that can lie underneath.

Foss lives and works in Hamilton, Canada. In 2018, two chapbooks of Foss’ poetry were released through Successful Press as well as in Issue 2 of Cross Process. A new body of her work was also previewed in the latest publication of The Vault zine. In 2017, she was the recipient of the First Edition Photo Book Award from the Ryerson Image Arts program, and in 2016 she received the SF Award in Photography. Foss holds a BFA in Photography from Ryerson University (2018). She has exhibited her work in Hamilton, Toronto, and Montreal.

The Ryerson Image Centre Student Gallery
The Student Gallery showcases the art and curatorial practices of Ryerson University’s current undergraduate and graduate students and recent alumni from all disciplines. Rigorous yet inclusive, the program engages audiences with important issues through group or solo exhibitions of contemporary art and historical lens-based media. Presenting six exhibitions per year, the Student Gallery provides valuable, professional experience in the curation and display of artwork.

The exhibitions are selected annually, following a call for submissions, by a committee comprised of staff members from the RIC, along with students and faculty members from the School of Image Arts.

Ryerson Image Centre
33 Gould Street
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

ADMISSION IS FREE
Free exhibition tours daily at 2:30pm

www.ryersonimagecentre.ca
416-979-5164
ric@ryerson.ca
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Media Contact
Kristen Dobbin, Ryerson Image Centre, kristendobbin@ryerson.ca / T+416 979 5000 x7032