Artist-in-Residence AGNS Yarmouth Anselm Kiefer - Art Gallery of ...

COMMUNITY
COLLABORATIVE VENTURES IN ART EDUCATION
Members of the Fazeli family
Family Portraits: Immigration & Identity
In fall 2008, the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia
embarked on a project with the Portrait
Gallery of Canada, a program of Library and
Archives Canada, which had been dreamed
up over a year ago. The result of this
collaboration is the exhibition Family
Portraits: Immigration and Identity which
opened february 16, 2009 in ottawa,
ontario. The exhibition opens in Halifax in
June and runs through the summer.
Seventeen new Canadian families, who now
live in ottawa and Halifax, participated in
studio workshops to create family portraits
that explore identity and the varied life
experiences of these families leaving their
places of origin and adjusting to a new country.
Included in the exhibition are two video
presentations of the respective workshops,
photographs, and written comments from
families. each family was asked to speak
The Bonilla family portrait The Luu family display their finished art work
about their art work and the decisions they
made for their visual compositions. one
family from Rwanda claimed, “when you
run away from the war you can run without
clothes, without shoes, with nothing… but
you can’t run without your children, you
never forget your child.” The importance
of their children in their portrait is further
magnified through these words. Another
family described how their portrait evolved
with the inclusion of a chicken which became
a turkey, an apple tree, and little white
flowers that they first saw when they came
to Canada. They said that they felt a deep
happiness with the results of their art work
saying that the process was at first a struggle
and in the end, a victory!
our appreciation is extended to each family
for sharing their stories and to the artists who
helped in the facilitation of the workshops.
we are also thankful for the support offered
by the ottawa Community Immigration
Services organization (oCISo), the Metropolitan
Immigrant Settlement Association
(MISA) in Halifax, and the Community Arts
Program, Cultural Services in the City of
ottawa. The opportunity to work together
with the Portrait Gallery of Canada, families
new to Canada, and community partners has
certainly added a richness and depth to this
curatorial project.