In partnership with the Royal Alberta Museum (RAM), we presented 16 works acquired to the AFA Art Collection in 2023.
Discover Alberta's unique cultural heritage through our artists...
About the exhibition
This exhibition tells Alberta’s stories, Here & Now, imagined by our province’s visual artists. Artworks featured in this exhibition were curated from recent AFA acquisitions made through the Art Acquisition by Application program in 2023.
The RAM custom-designed a special exhibition space inside its Human History Hall to spotlight these works, vistors could discover paintings, prints, fibre and sculptures by 12 diverse Albertan artists. The exhibition explored themes of Identity, Female Strength, Human Impacts on the Land, and Dis/Ability described below through curatorial statements.
Click the link on each work to view the artist's profile!
Identity
Works in this section explore the truthfulness of images. They ask: how do we present ourselves to the world? How do we wish to be remembered? What gets lost in translation from one community or culture to another?
- Flaming Helmet, 2022, by Michael Magnussen
- If We Could Meet Again, 2022, by Raeann Kit-Yee Cheung
- Black Lagoon P.R. Reputation Laundering, 2022, by Lisa Brawn
- HELLO, my name is: Fact-based Reality, 2022, by Lisa Brawn
- Chilli Sauce, 2023, by Wei Li
Female Strength
These works uplift and celebrate women of colour, from the heroines of Mexican rodeo to the beauty of Black women of legend and local reality.
- Dama Charra con Traje de Gran Gala, 2021, Claudia Jimenez Chagoya
- The Messenger, 2021, by Simone Elizabeth Saunders
- Elsa Robinson, 2019, by AJA Louden
Human Impacts on the Land
The land exists outside of us. We may try to control and mould it, but, as the works in this section show, our actions often meet with opposition from powerful forces of nature.
- Creature from the Depths, 2020, by Michael Leeb
- Frozen Fire 16, 2023, by Han Sungpil
- Frozen Fire 08, 2023, by Han Sungpil
- everything it had to swallow to make itself, 2022, by Lauren Chipeur
- Hole 8, 2021, by Nahanni McKay
Dis/Ability
The artists in this section find strength and beauty in difference. In confronting standards of race, sexuality, or physical and mental achievement, they reclaim their power.
- SPECIAL NEEDS, 2023, by Esther Suzanne Scott
- Spout Cup, 2023, by Wei Li
- Risk Management for Introverts, 2022, Lisa Brawn
About the Curator - Julia Petrov
Dr. Julia Petrov holds a PhD in Museum Studies and has worked in museums and universities across the province. Julia currently works for the RAM as Curator, Daily Life & Leisure.
In 2023, Julia took a secondment from this role to temporarily work with the AFA as its Art Acquisition Consultant, which included leading the AAA program. During her time at AFA, she curated the Here & Now exhibition.