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Mackenzie Art Gallery brings award-winning photography exhibition to Canora

The award-winning Mackenzie Art Gallery photography exhibition of Rosalie Favell: (Re)facing the Camera was on display at Canora Composite School on October 4-5.
Touring exhibit
Ken Duczek of Regina, MacKenzie Art Gallery co-ordinator of learning initiatives, displayed the award-winning photography exhibition of Rosalie Favell: (Re)facing the Camera at Canora Composite School on October 4-5.

            The award-winning Mackenzie Art Gallery photography exhibition of Rosalie Favell: (Re)facing the Camera was on display at Canora Composite School on October 4-5.

            Ken Duczek of Regina, Mackenzie Art Gallery co-ordinator of learning initiatives, showed the exhibition to CCS students during school hours, and it was open to the entire community on the evening of October 4.

            Duczek said Favell is an internationally known photo-based artist originally from Winnipeg and currently residing in Ottawa. She draws inspiration from her family history and her Metis (Cree/English) heritage.

            The portraits in the exhibition were selected from over 300 works included in her original exhibition, which were taken across Canada and the United States.

            The portraits are of important Indigenous artists and curators, whom Favell chose to highlight in order to make sure their names would become better known and their work would receive the attention it deserves and be remembered in the future. She chose them due to their contributions to contemporary and Indigenous art production and practise. Favell did not pose the individuals, but rather gave them the space to find their own way of dealing with the camera.

            In an earlier interview, Favell said she wanted to “keep the portraits simple, in order to make it easier to read the persons and what was going on with them.”

             Favell said in addition to being an important portrayal of Indigenous artists and curators, the exhibition also became somewhat of a self-portrait, showing her own feelings about her First Nations heritage. She said together, the photographs express the idea of self as something both rooted in histories and traditions, but also adaptable and in flux.

            Duczek said he enjoyed showing the exhibition to CCS students, who seemed to appreciate the opportunity to learn about Indigenous artists, including one who creates art from

discarded computer circuit boards.

            The exhibition was organized by the MacKenzie Art Gallery with the support of Canada Council for the Arts, SaskCulture, Saskatchewan Arts Board, City of Regina, and University of Regina.

            Duczek said since 1971, the MacKenzie Art Gallery’s Provincial Touring Artist and Exhibition Program has been dedicated to making visual art more accessible to rural communities in Saskatchewan which otherwise may not have access to original art. This gives them the opportunity to see art with a trained educator right in their own communities.