RETURN TO WATER 2024

RETURN TO WATER 2024
Starting in 2020, the Comox Valley Art Gallery has held programming that instigates consideration of how we as human beings are in relationship with the waters of this region. The exhibitions presented and art-based community activations recognize that everything is connected to water.
This year, the RETURN TO WATER 2024 program looks to the past, considers the present, and envisions a future in which harmonic balance with the watershed is restored.
The exhibition Assertion of Sovereignty by Sonny Assu — Ligwiłda’xw of the Kwakwaka’wakw Nations — points to the past in which Indigenous people of this region lived within harmony with the watershed. His paintings, prints, and kitsch collection explore European contact and how this colonizing culture disrupted the existing ways of life of the people of this place and the whole ecosystem. The Last of Us, a continuously generating animation, is the artist’s response to a recent article about a single female salmon making a never ending and lonely journey upriver to spawn.
Throughout the convergent program, CVAG is inviting the community to participate by offering creative responses that reflect the past, assert the present, and envision the future in which a healthy relationship with our watery world is restored. Shifting Currents are arts-based activations with community collaborators, which stimulate changes in the way in which we all consider water and how we engage with it.
IMAGE: Slam’n Salmon, Sonny Assu, 2024. Image courtesy of the artist.
EXHIBITIONS | VIDEOS | COLLABORATION
Assertion of Sovereignty – Exhibition | South Gallery + George Sawchuk Room
The Last of Us – Continuously Generating Animation | Window + Plaza Media Gallery – premieres April 13 and will run 24/7 until May 25 at 5PM
Shifting Currents – Community Activations | Gather:Place + HUB Community Gallery + Off-Site Events
EVENTS
April 13 | 1:00PM – Reception + Artist Talk + Community + Cultural Presentations + Premiere Screening | OPENING EVENT
April 17 | 1 – 5:00PM – CVRD Connected By Water – Meghan Cursons | by registration
April 19 | 1 – 3:30PM – SD 71 educational outreach session – JoAnn Restoule + CVAG curatorial team + students | private event
April 23 | 10AM – 3PM – Activism + Social Art Practice | Water for Water + Water Webs | Aspire to Action – Vanier Secondary Students | private event
May 3 | 10AM – 2:30PM – SD 71 Courtenay Elementary educational outreach session – CVRD Connected By Water – Meghan Cursons | private event
May 22 | 5PM – Source Encounters in the Comox Lake Watershed | CVRD Connected By Water facilitators | PUBLIC EVENT
May 25 | 2PM – RETURN TO WATER 2024 | CLOSING EVENT | PUBLIC
The Comox Valley Art Gallery is committed to creating safer spaces where everyone can participate.
Programming is open to the public during CVAG hours: Wednesday – Saturday, 10AM – 5PM + by appointment.
All ages are welcome.
CVAG spaces are accessible.
Programs are barrier-free (no cost). DONATIONS are appreciated and contribute to ongoing community interactive programming.
PUBLIC HEALTH CONSIDERATIONS: we ask that visitors choose not to visit if they are experiencing symptoms of colds and flus.
Hand sanitation dispensers are available at CVAG. Wearing a mask is at the discretion of the visitor.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The Comox Valley Art Gallery is grateful to operate on the Unceded Traditional Territory of the K’ómoks First Nations.
CVAG is honored to collaborate with artists, writers, guest curators, community partners + volunteers. We are grateful for the support of our members + donors.
This convergent program is made possible through the support of our FUNDERS: City of Courtenay, Canada Council for the Arts, BC Arts Council, Government of Canada, Province of BC, Comox Valley Regional District, Town of Comox | LOCAL SUPPORT: ABC Printing + Signs, SD71 Printshop, Sherwin Williams Paint Store, Hitec Screen Printing, Shine-Eze Ltd., BoomBright Media | COMMUNITY COLLABORATORS: CV/Arts, CVRD Connected By Water, Hand-In-Hand Nature Education, Curating Cleaner Waters, Kumugwe Cultural Society, MakeItZone, SD71 Aspire to Action, CVAG Youth Media Project, Teo Moon
IMAGE: Slam’n Salmon, Sonny Assu, 2024. Image courtesy of the artist.
Exhibitions
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Assertion of Sovereignty
Indigenous Peoples once had full reign over their territories.
April 13 - May 25 2024 -
The Last of Us | Animation
A continuously generating animation captures the perilous optimism of the solo swimmer.
April 13 - June 12 2024 -
Shifting Currents | Community Activations
Arts-based activations with community collaborators, which stimulate changes in the way in which we all consider water...
April 13 - May 25 2024
Events
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Shifting Currents | CVRD Connected By Water - Source Encounters in the Comox Lake Watershed
Building knowledge and inspiring action to help ensure a healthy, climate resilient watershed for future generations.
May 22 2024 / 5:00 - 6:30pm -
Shifting Currents | Curating Cleaner Waters - Incubator
Explorations in shadow puppetry and video storytelling give voice to the creatures that inhabit local waters.
April 23 - May 21 2024 -
Shifting Currents | Water Walk + Water Webs
We Walk For Water - Aspire to Action - GP Vanier Secondary - social art practices and activism.
April 23 2024 / 10:00am - 5:00pm -
Shifting Currents | Wishes for Fishes
Following their visits to a fish hatchery, Hand-In-Hand Nature Education students painted their wishes for the baby fish.
April 14 2024 / 9:00am - 3:00pm -
RETURN TO WATER 2024 | Art Opening
Join us for the opening reception of "RETURN TO WATER 2024", featuring a talk by exhibiting artist Sonny Assu.
April 13 2024 / 1:00 - 5:00pm