D ELI GHT S| THE ART WORLD
Pandemic art can be a salve in troubled times By Peter Simpson
W
hat strange things the pandemic makes us do. Even the simple act of looking ahead to exhibitions in local galleries becomes tricky, as, at time of writing, it’s not even certain that galleries will be open to the public when the intended opening dates arrive. In other cases, the precise dates were still to be set. So, with the unpredictability of recent months in mind, please be sure to check with galleries before visiting — but do visit, as there’s much to see. First up, Shelter in Place, at the Ottawa Art Gallery. By this point it may seem art about the pandemic is the last thing one would care to see, but perhaps it’s a tonic. 66
Early last spring, when we all first started to self-isolate, I read Emily St. John Mandel’s novel, Station Eleven, about a deadly flu that quickly wipes out most of the human population (no spoilers here, that all happens in the first few pages). Yet even in that terrible story there was goodness to be found, much basic human decency and reading about it was somehow calming, perhaps even cathartic. Such is the power of art done well. It shows us that others, caught in the same trap, are coping with the enormous stress and strain, from fears of infection to the slow grind of quarantines. Shelter in Place is a group exhibition with the subtitle “Portraits of self, family
and community,” which are three things to which a lot of us have gotten a lot closer in the past year. “At this time of social-distancing and isolation, we look inward at ourselves and outward towards our immediate community or family bubbles,” say the exhibition notes. “From installation to film, this group exhibition focuses on self-portraits and works by artists who create portraits of their close community.” Artists include Chantal Dahan, Max Dean, Christopher Lea Dunning, Robert Hyndman, Martha Kyak, Patrice James, Faisa Omer, Jessie Oonark, Kosisochukwu Nnebe, Ron Noganosh and Annie Pootoogook. WINTER 2021 | JAN-FEB-MAR
COLLECTION OF THE OTTAWA ART GALLERY
The Outsiders (mixed media, 2009) by Ron Noganosh, from Shelter in Place at the Ottawa Art Gallery.
