20 August – 25 November 2024
Studio 531 Architect Window Gallery
546 Herald Street, Victoria
24/7 viewing from street
Artist Statement:
‘The Back Seat Window’ is inspired by encounters with stickers that adorn the back seat windows of cars that children ride in. The back seat of the car is a kid’s domain. It’s where I spent a great deal of time daydreaming growing up as the world passed me by. Now as an adult, I am usually driving or a front seat passenger – concerned with the traffic and google maps directions. Every so often I catch a glimpse of these stickers on other cars. They seem to mark a threshold of inner and outer experience. Looking in on these silhouettes from the outside, I can’t entirely know that particular world, but I know it is there.
As I developed this work, I wanted to reference these stickered windows, but also explore the piece as a site-responsive sculptural work. The unique qualities of this gallery space with raised platform surrounded by stones and architectural beam gave me a particular spatial circumstance to explore. The resulting work may conjure the qualities of constellations, bubbles, waterfalls – or it simply plays with light and colour through embracing holographic materials in a space that is activated by natural light.
Bio:
Emily Geen’s artistic practice encompasses a range of media including sculpture, installation, photography, video, sound, cross stitch and bookmaking. Her work embodies relationships to nostalgia and temporality.
Emily (she/her) lives and works on the traditional territory of the Lekwungen-speaking nations (Victoria, BC). She is of British, French, and Irish ancestry, and grew up on an orchard on Sylix Okanagan territory in the town of Lake Country, BC.
Emily received her BFA at the University of British Columbia Okanagan (2012), followed by her MFA at the University of Victoria (2015). She has had recent solo projects/exhibitions at the Ministry of Casusal Living Window Gallery (Victoria) and at Empty Gallery (Victoria). Her work has been included in group shows at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Support (London, ON), Gallery 44 (Toronto), and Gallery 295 (Vancouver). She has participated in residencies at the Banff Centre (2016) and at MOMENTUM Worldwide in Berlin (2017).
Emily teaches photography, video art, and sculpture at the University of Victoria.
Work Info:
The Back Seat Window
Emily Geen
Polycarbonate, holographic vinyl, wood
2024
Online:
Website: www.emilygeen.com
Instagram: @emma.kesart
