Photography

Item Description

Quiet Resistance, Reclaiming Space, 2022, photograph, 30 in x 40 in

‘Quiet Resistance, Reclaiming Space’ offers a thought-provoking reflection on modernist depictions of Canadian landscapes. The photograph,, taken by Kwan, features the Ottawa Valley and is part of a continuing series of photographs taken in various Canadian landscapes. Each image is framed by a traditional Chinese lantern panel that Kwan has repurposed by removing the original glass insert painted with traditional Chinese landscape scenes. This modification allows Kwan to reveal the immediate outdoor environment that he is surrounded by through the lantern panels.

By situating himself in these landscapes, Kwan seeks to reclaim space and explore the historical legacies of inclusion and exclusion associated with land-based settler colonialism. He draws attention to discriminatory policies, such as the Immigration Act and the Chinese Exclusion Act, that existed during Canada's founding and adversely affected the participation of Chinese-Canadian artists in artistic circles.

Through a process of reclamation, research, and exchange, Kwan brings his artistic practice into dialogue, considering community, family legacy, and memory. Kwan scrutinizes iconic “Canadian” and “Chinese” images and objects, as well as his family's history of more than a century in Canada, to answer the question of what it means to belong in the Canadian landscape.

Quiet Resistance, Reclaiming Space, 2022, photographie, 30 po x 40 po

« Quiet Resistance, Reclaiming Space » [Résistance tranquille, réapproprier le lieu] propose une réflexion sur les représentations modernistes des paysages canadiens. La photographie, prise par Kwan, montre la vallée de l’Outaouais et fait partie d’une série toujours en cours de photographies prises dans divers paysages canadiens. Chaque image est encadrée d’une partie d’une lanterne chinoise traditionnelle dont Kwan a retiré le panneau de verre original sur lequel étaient peints des paysages chinois traditionnels. Cette modification lui permet de révéler l’environnement extérieur immédiat qui l’entoure à travers les panneaux de lanterne.

Item Special Note

Artist Website/Site Web de l'artiste: https://www.donkwanart.com/

Instagram: @donkwanart

Don Kwan, a third-generation Chinese Canadian, uses his personal experiences and struggles as a queer, East Asian artist to explore broader conversations about identity, representation, and intergenerational memory-making within the diaspora.

Don Kwan est un artiste queer sino-canadien de troisième génération dont le travail explore le lieu, l’identité, la représentation et la mémoire familiale au fil du temps.