Sylvia Safdie: Time

This exhibition will feature three works from the permanent collection: a painting which was acquired by the MacKenzie in 1998, and two videos recently donated by the artist. The painting, Earth Marks, Series II, No. 6 is the result of Safdie’s manipulation of linseed oil and earth on mylar, and emphasizes Safdie’s continuing fascination with the human figure and her search for the self.

The video works use a slow, analytical approach that exposes the audience to the beauty and intricacy of the organic, everyday world. Gulls (2002) highlights every moment of a seagull’s flight across the screen, whereas Walter Leaves (2002) captures a fleeting moment when moving leaves are projected onto a 97-year-old man’s face through a glass window.



Safdie’s nationally and internationally recognized work seeks to uncover universal dialogues between people and their environment. These dialogues offer in return a method of meditation with which an individual can discover connections beyond their existence in the contemporary world to the primordial elements of life.



Lydia Miliokas, Curatorial Research Assistant