Feel Goods // Paul Robert

“Since 2015 I have been collaborating with a contact, Bagalwa Baliahamwabo, in Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). To be straightforward, I am outsourcing beadwork to his family…Each swatch is 128 by 128 beads and is woven on a bead loom for a wage of one US cent per bead ($163.84/swatch). I estimate this works out to $1.50-$3.00/hour. For comparison, a plantation worker in the DRC makes about $2.00 a day.”

Author and artist Paul Robert exclaims how his collaboration with beader Bagalwa Baliahamwabo aims to bring up the complexities involved with so-called “feel goods” and the nuanced nature behind consumer activism.

Alternator Centre for Contemporary ArtJune 12, 2020Paul Robert

There is a minimum to operate properly; Love and Holeness // Michelle Weinstein

Why are some holes in the body coveted, and some considered shameful? Gazing into another’s eyes is a romantic act of love, while gazing into a butthole, another’s or one’s own, is an awkward proposition. It is safe to assume that the initial reactions to Christopher Lacroix’s artwork, There is a Minimum to Operate Properly will range from disgust, titillation, curiosity, desire and a variety of other states, perturbed and pleasing. This project requires multiple lenses to consider its subtle production of meanings, beyond initial visceral responses.

Holly Ward // Bree Apperley

Artist Holly Ward makes work that has run a course through a retro optimism towards a darker, more anxious meditation on our collective future. Ward’s pieces are constructed across mediums, using sculpture, multi-media installation, architecture, video and drawing.

main GalleryAlternator Centre for Contemporary ArtSeptember 20, 2019Bree Apperley, humynatur3, 2019, Holly Ward

Seeking Visions for a Better World // Bree Apperley

Like the sacred trickster coyote of Indigenous plateau lore, the pieces that RYAN! Feddersen makes us feel empathy While modelling to us our missteps, so that we may choose better for ourselves. RYAN! Feddersen (b. 1984, Wenatchee, Washington) is a mixed-media installation artist who conceives large-scale, site-specific pieces which use interactivity to create opportunities for personal introspection and discovery in the local community. RYAN! is an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, and a descendant of the Okanagan and Arrow Lakes peoples.

Essays

Community built.
Artist run.