Vernissage for Estuaries
Join us at the Owens Art Gallery for the opening vernissage of the new exhibition Estuaries.
On view: 5 October – 15 December, 2024
Curated by: Joana Joachim
Works by: Denise Ferreira da Silva & Arjuna Neuman, Sylvia D. Hamilton, John Hammond, Oluseye, Camille Turner, Denyse Thomasos, Gary Weekes
About the Exhibition
Estuaries form when freshwater rivers meet the ocean and become slightly salty. The Atlantic is the saltiest of the five ocean basins. It is also the body of water across which more than 30,000 ships carried over twelve million abducted Africans into slavery through the lethal crossing known as the Middle Passage. These ships returned laden with goods produced through the forced labour of Black captives. John Owens, eponym of the Owens Art Gallery, was a successful shipbuilder, as was his executor, Robert Reed. Using funds from Owens’ estate, Reed worked with artist John Hammond to develop a teaching collection now housed at the Owens Art Gallery.
The Maritimes, like the rest of Canada, profited from shipbuilding and colonial economies linked to transatlantic slavery and trade. Meanwhile, Black histories in New Brunswick and elsewhere were systematically washed away. To this day, the histories and contributions of small Black communities in New Brunswick and across Canada are overlooked due to their size, their seemingly limited archival presence, and, in some cases, the common, inaccurate belief that they simply do not exist. Estuaries floats in the space between these facts, musing on Black diasporic peoples’ relationship to the ocean. Featuring artworks by both contemporary and historical artists, as well as archival documents and artifacts, it contends with the tensions that arise once we allow the freshwater river of Canadian history to meet the ocean of Black Atlantic life.
Detailed venue access information
Related Programming
Poetry Reading with Sylvia D. Hamilton and Amatoritsero Ede
Friday 4 October, 4:00 – 5:30 pm, in Tweedie Hall
Panel Discussion with Sylvia D. Hamilton, Joana Joachim, Thandiwe McCarthy and David Woods
Saturday 5 October, 11:00 am – 12:30 pm, at the Owens
This exhibition was made possible thanks to funding from the Canada Council for the Arts and the New Brunswick Department of Tourism, Heritage and Culture. It received special support from the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia (Halifax), the Centre for Canadian Studies (Mount Allison University), the Department of English (Mount Allison University), and the Faculty of Fine Arts (Concordia University).
