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A New WITH ART project, Queer Perspectives, October 10 - October 27

WITH ART: Queer Perspectives
Open until October 27 at aceartinc, Flux Gallery

A new visual arts project developed through the Winnipeg Arts Council’s WITH ART program will open on Wednesday, October 10, and will feature the artwork of Alison Burdeny, Julian Kirchmann, Sheila Mogg, Vic Peters, all participants from the Rainbow Resource Centre, and artist mentor Lisa Wood. Queer Perspectives will be on exhibit at aceartinc in the Flux Gallery, from October 10 – October 27. An opening reception and book launch for the project will be on October 10, beginning at 7:00 pm.

The Winnipeg Arts Council’s Community WITH ART program partners professional artists with community groups to work on community identity, issues, and shared goals through the development of an art project. In the case of the Rainbow Resource Centre, the participants were young people who identify as queer or transgender, and some are in transition from one gender to another. The participants wanted to use the WITH ART project to talk about forming their identities while negotiating, pushing and breaking perceived norms of gender and sexuality as set by society, peers, family, school, and workplace.

After a year of the community and artist working together, the result is Queer Perspectives, an exhibition and book consisting of several artworks by and about the participants from the Rainbow Resource Centre. While artist Lisa Wood was creating portraits of the youth, the youth were creating self-portraits. The combined work is a striking exhibition, giving face to this part of the queer community, while also exploring personal struggle and inner strength. The book, being launched at the opening of the exhibition, also has moving and eloquent passages written by the young artists addressing their day-to-day lives and the larger questions of identity that they all face.

Artist Lisa Wood said that she herself found the experience of working with these youth profound. “Each participant is rapidly transforming, whether the change is as monumental as altering gender, or as subtle as adapting ideas, perceptions, or opinions,” said Wood. “Life is in constant flux and it can be amazing and devastating in a single day.”

Queer Perspectives
October 10 – October 27
Flux Gallery, aceartinc, 290 McDermot Street
Opening and Book Launch – Tuesday, October 10 at 7:00 pm (TBC)

Full press kit and high resolution photos can be downloaded HERE

More information about the Winnipeg Arts Council’s WITH ART program can be found HERE

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