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Tactics for Staying Home in Uncertain Times

March 15, 2021 - May 16, 2021


Artist: , , , ,
Curator:
Year 2021 Organized by MSVU Art Gallery

Please note: This is an online exhibition, as the galleries at MSVU Art Gallery continue to be closed to the public until further notice.

The COVID-19 pandemic, now approaching its first full year in Canada, has radically centered home as the site of daily life. The question of home (namely “what and where is home?”) is made no simpler by this fact. Indeed, this crisis has exacerbated existing inequalities and precarity in housing access. Co-opting the language of public health directives to stay home and shelter in place, Tactics for Staying Home in Uncertain Times invites viewers to consider the meanings of home through the lens of diaspora. This exhibition asks, how do we stay home when home is away? How do we make here feel like home?

Tactics brings together five emerging Black, Indigenous and racialized (BIPOC) artists living across Canada whose works articulate ideas of displacement, domesticity, and the limits of belonging. By tracing connections to present and past homes, the artists render visible everyday gestures that enable feelings of belonging and solidarity across complex and diverse communities. The featured works borrow from the fabric of lived experience: familiar fruit, objects of utility and comfort, the light of an electronic screen. In recreating a domestic space that is unique and yet familiar, Tactics reveals common ground on their shared experience of making home in times of global crisis. The exhibition includes work by rudi aker, Cinthia Arias Auz, Michelle Campos Castillo, Bishara Elmi, and Camila Salcedo.

Liuba González de Armas is Halifax’s “Young Curator”, a position made possible by funds from the Canadian Museum Association’s Shirley L. Thomson Award for Young Curators, and in partnership with Dalhousie Art Gallery and Saint Mary’s University Art Gallery. She moved to Kjipuktuk to serve in this role, and has since been finding ways to make home here.

Audio Companion


Virtual Visits

Thursday, March 25, April 8 and April 22 at 2:00-4:00pm ADT

Liuba Gonzalez de Armas, curator of Tactics for Staying Home in Uncertain Times, invited visitors to tune in for an informal virtual chat. Liuba was online for the duration of each session, and visitors could “drop in” at their convenience. A session scheduled for May 6 was cancelled due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Artist Talk

Saturday, April 10 at 2:00pm ADT

Online artist talk with Cinthia Arias Auz.
Please see Inside References for more information.

Exhibition Poster

Exhibition Catalogue

In the spirit of Tactics for Staying Home in Uncertain Times, MSVU Art Gallery invites visitors to enjoy this exhibition remotely, from the safety and comfort of home. Images of the work on display are accompanied here with audio recorded statements from the artists and curator. Visitors are also welcome to connect virtually with the exhibition curator, Liuba Gonzalez de Armas, and attend online programming.