You Are Welcome
13 January – 3 March 2024
Opening Reception: Saturday 13 January, 3PM-5PM
ARTISTS-IN-CONVERSATION(S):
Saturday 10 Feb @ 3PM:
Journeying Home w/ Fenghua Cui, Gabriela Torres Vanegas, Jiyoung Park
Saturday 17 February @ 3PM:
The Fabric of Resilience w/ Isabel González Quiroz, Olena Bila, Şansal Güngör Gümüşpala
Victoria Arts Council’s Pat Martin Bates Gallery
1800 Store Street [wheelchair accessible]
Gallery hours: Wednesday – Sunday, 12-5 pm.
Featuring: Lucía Anaya (México); Olena Bila (Ukraine); Anthony Carr (United Kingdom); Bryan Cawas (Philippines); Fenghua Cui (China); Isabel González Quiroz (Chile); Şansal Güngör Gümüşpala (Türkiye); Jiyoung Park (Korea); Maryam Tavakoli (Iran); Gabriela Torres Vanegas (Colombia)
Co-Curators: Desirée Leal and Kegan McFadden
The Victoria Arts Council is pleased to announce our first full scale collaboration with the Inter-Cultural Association of Greater Victoria with the exhibition YOU ARE WELCOME.
After posting a Call to Artists, and then hosting meetings to engage with numerous members of the community, ten artists, from diverse backgrounds who now call Victoria home, have been selected to exhibit their visual art. The VAC is thrilled to showcase artists working across drawing, painting, photography, installation, new media, textiles, and more as part of You Are Welcome. Ranging from the personal one-on-one relationships to how food and language act as the bedrock for so much culture, to much larger socio-economic and political touchstones that continue to resonate long after someone has left their homeland, the work exhibited offers insight into the ways we long for connection no matter where we find ourselves.
“Though this is a group exhibition featuring artists who might not otherwise show together, this conversation is fortified by the understanding that each piece recalls the artist’s homeland through the lens of Vancouver Island.” clarifies exhibition co-curator Kegan McFadden.
This project is generously sponsored by the Andrew Beckerman Fund with the Victoria Foundation, as well as supported by the Inter-Cultural Association of Greater Victoria, along with the Province of British Columbia, BC Arts Council, CRD Arts Commission, and VAC Members.