THIS IS YOUR PRAIRIE GOTHIC EXHIBITION


in a canola field, the yellow flowers rustle, it is hot and dry and the sun is unrelenting. you wonder how long you have been here, but you cannot seem to remember how you got here in the first place. your mouth is dry, and sweat drips down your brow, your nose, your chin, even down your back under your already sweat-soaked shirt, and you are thirsty. you have never been this thirsty in your life and you feel as if you will expire in the next ten minutes if you do not have something to drink. you scan the landscape for signs of human life, and when you turn around again, there is a house where there were only fields upon fields. you walk towards it, not wanting to sweat out the last water in your body you have, but as you walk the house does not seem to get any closer. a raven caws as it flies above you and you start running.

you run for what seems like hours, and by the time you arrive at the broken steps of the run-down house, your limbs feel like jelly and you wonder if the house even has water, let alone inhabitants. you are in the shade of the wide covered porch now, but the sun still feels like a cruel omnipresent god trying to smother you with its hot breath. you crawl up to the heavy wood door, ignoring the splintered wood of the porch as you reach for the doorknob. it is unlocked and it turns easily. what do you see?

THIS IS YOUR PRAIRIE GOTHIC

“I am a Twospirit Métis artist from Treaty 6, currently living and working in Mohkinstis, (Calgary). My work explores notions of death and loss, identity and the space I take up in the world, decolonization of personal identity, and how they have shaped my life and my creative practice. My practice is interdisciplinary to it allow for more dynamic bodies of work, while using the resources I have available to me. Using a variety of different mediums and materials allows me to explore the themes. I use whatever materials I have on hand to embrace the notions of a Arte Povera, art that critiques the elitist values of established art institutes and organizations, having grown up with little money.

I take much inspiration from literature or film, reading fantasy and sci-novels, dialogue, and on-screen relationships between characters. Recently, my practice has been focused on creating a body of work, and curating exhibitions of prairie-related artwork, that exists as documentation of my own fantasy prairie world in which I would imagine some sort of adventure taking place under the working name of Prairie Gothic.”

- Des Starr

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Land Dragon, Acrylic Painting, Lizanne du Preez, 2020

Full, AJ Kluck, Digital Photography, 2020

Full, AJ Kluck, Digital Photography, 2020

THIS IS YOUR PRAIRIE GOTHIC was curated By Des Starr and Facilitated by the Ivan Gallery

Find more about the artists…

Des Starr Instagram: @desyastarr

H.B. Fenna Kort Website: fennakort.com Instagram: @fennakort

AJ Kluck Instagram: @ajkluck

Lizanne du Preez Website: lizpoetryandart.ca