Curated by Kevin Bertram and Jason Gowans

Opening Reception: Friday, February 12, 6-9pm
Exhibition closes: Saturday, March 6
Gallery Hours: Wednesdays – Saturdays, 1-6pm

Featuring: Sonny Assu, Valerie Boxer, Vincent Chevalier, Brendan Fernandes, Jenny Gag, Michael Love, Jon Sasaki, Until We Have a Helicopter, and Zoë Yuristy

Canada is a country whose national narrative is difficult to define, even for Canadians. This question is further complicated when looking at emerging artists who have grown up under intense globalization. In Canada, specific identities are difficult to pinpoint and, when they are, they are often portrayed as problematic stereotypes bound up in a colonialist history.
 
“Alternorthern” was conceived in the tension that exists between nationalism, globalization, and individualism: the exhibition is a product of both cultural values and cultural hybridism. The nine artists in this exhibition function similarly in that they use their own identities to make gestures that transgress time and space. Each artist in the exhibition is Canadian, yet each creates work that speaks to issues pertinent to both Canadian and global geographic and political landscapes.
 
The exhibition will open during the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, when many of the stereotypes, symbols, themes, and political workings of Canada will be disseminated into the U.S. media. As Canada is in the throes of presenting its tourist identity on the international stage, this exhibition can function as a way of transgressing this identity. Thus, the curators see this exhibition not as a response to the event of the Olympics but as an opportunity to subvert and play with cultural dialogue that will exist during this time.