Ceremony | Dallas + Chained & Unchained | Montana King

Dallas (left) |  Montana King (right)

Presented by Gallery Gachet

CEREMONY | Dallas
CHAINED & UNCHAINED | Montana King

CJSF Sound Therapy Radio Taping: Fri March 11th, 6 – 7pm
Opening night reception: Fri March 11th, 7pm – 10pm
Performance night: Thurs March 24th, 7pm

Dallas and Montana King, two of Gachet’s Out of the Rain artists, present exhibitions exploring ideas around emotional transference and the impact of loss and trauma within the context of healing. Building on her performance at the Vancouver Art Gallery’s FUSE, Dallas expands her installation, Ceremony where she uses disposable lighters as a symbol of drug use and a metaphor for the idea of ‘throwaway’ lives in the DTES. Montana continues her studies of human ‘chains’ and the limbic system. Using a multitude of media she creates a conversation between traumatic human experiences and the brilliance of the whale’s limbic systems.

Ceremony bears direct reference to pre-colonial history of fire-carriers and to the role of fire as a metaphor to symbolize life’s impenetrable force. Ceremony honours people lost to addiction through the use of disposable lighters – a commentary on contemporary, capitalist, throwaway culture. The lighters create a stained glass window effect representing colonial-forced Catholic education for indigenous peoples.
The installation is part of Dallas’s healing. “We are all people of the earth,” she states, “and that in order to heal the earth, we have to heal ourselves first.”

Ceremony features a large ceremony lodge made from thousands of lighters, quarter inch wire mesh, tent poles, weaving, and canvas; appropriating traditional religious iconography using native art techniques in an exciting and new way. The disposable lighters are a symbol of drug use and a metaphor for the idea of ‘throwaway’ lives in the DTES, ranging in colour from red, yellow, white and black, representing the diversity of the human race. Each lighter can be viewed as an individual, broadening the addictions debate and suggesting that everyone is affected by addiction. Addiction is a global problem, not just endemic to Vancouver’s DTES, and the vast majority of people are dependent on something outside themselves to make life sweeter, or temporarily more bearable. Inside the structure two flat-screen televisions play Dallas’s poetic film (30 min) – the stories of her daughter, friend and comrade, all whom lost their lives to addiction.

A former Out of the Rain participant, Montana King has produced a body of art that explores the “Chained and Unchained” aspects of existence, and the possibility of emerging into the freedom of unchained being. The chains of addiction and trauma presented are both real and metaphorical, their heavy presence exposing the viewer to greater possibilities of freedom.

In her Chained & Unchained series, King’s research is expressed visually: her focus is on the limbic system, the emotional core of the brain, and considers both the trauma and serenity of humans and Beluga whales. Through this dynamic contrast, she creates a transformative experience for the viewer, moving from a chained state to an unchained state. Intriguingly, in humans, the limbic system has not evolved since our earlier, pre-human state, since our mammalian ancestors left the oceans to walk on land. In whales, it may well be a different story.

Chained & Unchained features a monumental canvas: a visual exploration of a beluga whale: for King, the whale represents the possibility of unchained freedom.

On Thursday March 24th, a candle light performance night featuring Aboriginal drummers and poetry readings by Montana will commemorate those lost and celebrate those still breathing who continue to deal with emotional stresses and healing of past conflicts.

For media inquiries please contact: Lara Fitzgerald, Programming Director, Gallery Gachet, programming@gachet.org, or call 604 722 9242.

To see pictures from this exhibition, please visit our Flickr account https://www.flickr.com/photos/gallerygachet/sets/72157626508310401