epistemologies of the moon
Lauren Fournier
Awarded the 6th annual Middlebrook Prize for Young Canadian Curators, Lauren Fournier’s exhibition epistemologies of the moon engages with the symbolism and imagery of the moon as a historically feminine and, more recently, feminist symbol, opening it up to new meanings and valences in the transnational 21st century. The exhibition emerges from Fournier’s curatorial research around land and place, exploring the dynamics of settler-colonialism and decolonization through mythology, mysticism, ritual, and spirituality. The project includes work by emerging and mid-career artists whose practices are indebted to ideas around the politics, aesthetics, and ethics of feminism today.
Image detail: Gillian Dykeman, Moon, 2016, single-channel video with sound, 2:23 mins [Photo: Jesse Boles]
Presented by the Art Gallery of Guelph, the Middlebrook Prize for Young Canadian Curators is made possible through the support of the Centre Wellington Community Foundation’s Middlebrook Social Innovation Fund, The Guelph Community Foundation: Musagetes Fund, and through private donations.
About the curator
Lauren Fournier
Lauren Fournier is a curator, writer, artist, and scholar of experimental feminist art, literary, and theoretical practices. She works across film, video, performance, sound, music composition, and experimental writing to create cross-disciplinary work. Based in Toronto, Fournier is a PhD candidate in the Department of English at York University where her research is grounded in the intersections of art history, philosophy, literature, gender and sexuality studies, and contemporary art. Fournier holds a BA in Fine Arts from the University of Regina (2010) and an MA in English from Simon Fraser University (2012). She has worked as a frontline mental health and harm reduction worker, and she is actively engaged in bridging social work with her academic and artistic practices. Her commitment to mental health, class and racial justice, trauma, and addictions advocacy shapes her work.
Artists
Chief Lady Bird
Katherine Boyer
Gillian Dykeman
Maggie Groat
Rekha Lauren Ramachandran
Zoë Schneider
Yerbamala Collective
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