The MacKenzie Art Gallery in partnership with Conseil Culturel Fransaskois (CCF) is excited to present Saskatoon-based artist Laura St. Pierre’s solo exhibition, All that You Change Changes You / Tout ce que tu touches, tu le change, curated by Crystal Mowry and Nicolle Nugent. Set to run from March 22 to August 11, 2024, this exhibition marks a poignant exploration of perseverance in a world transformed by environmental upheaval.  

This exhibition and its related programming were conceived to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Conseil Culturel Fransaskois, serving as a tribute to the invaluable contributions of Francophone artists to our region. 

“This is one for the history books, for so many reasons!” says president of the Conseil culturel fransaskois Anne Brochu Lambert. “The entire francophone community celebrates wholeheartly the solo exhibition of the first female fransaskois artist at the Mackenzie Art Gallery, Laura St. Pierre. It is a major recognition of the quality of her work and an important marker for her career. The francophones of Saskatchewan also welcome with enthusiasm the exploration of her art through all the French components surrounding the project, thanks to a meaningful partnership between the Mackenzie Art Gallery and the Conseil culturel fransaskois.” 

Drawing inspiration from science fiction author Octavia E. Butler’s influential novel, Parable of the Sower, St. Pierre’s exhibition paints a vivid picture of a future shaped by absence and adaptation. Through photography, video, and installation spanning the past decade, St. Pierre presents a narrative of scavenging, sowing, and survival in a landscape transformed by environmental upheaval. 

 St. Pierre’s work reflects on the dramatic rise of forest fires in her home province of Saskatchewan and bears witness to humanity’s fractured relationship with nature and the devastating consequences of extractive policies on the environment and our future. 

St. Pierre explores her relationship with the natural environment through a multidisciplinary art practice. Her installations, sculptures, photography and performance works simulate scavenger activity within Canadian regions particularly significant to her personal history and experience. Whether in large scale photographs of make-shift greenhouses or urgent images of a lone figure finding ways to breathe life into a hostile environment, St. Pierre provides a glimmer of hope to the resourceful among us. 

“As an artist and an educator, St. Pierre is uniquely positioned to share creative answers to the challenges of the future,” says Director of Programs Crystal Mowry. “Her photographs often highlight transitional spaces that are familiar, yet on the periphery of our attention—abandoned storefronts, underground parking lots, and roadside brush. St. Pierre asks us to consider how our survival may hang on our ability to adapt with, not to, our surroundings. If we think of humans as nature, not separate from it, our responsibility to course correct for future generations is undeniable.”  

All that You Change Changes You / Tout ce que tu touches, tu le change shines a light on the artist’s decade-long approach to two survivalist tropes: scavenging and sowing. Central to the exhibition is St. Pierre’s portrayal of “The Scavenger,” a figure who salvages remnants of the past to fashion vessels for both human and plant life. In the haunting video installation, “Spectral Garden,” viewers are transported to a submerged garden of sorts illuminated by unseen flames, underscoring the fragility of existence in an environment destabilized by the threat of forest fires. 

 

OPENING RECEPTION AND PERFORMANCE

On 22 March visitors are welcome to join us in celebrating the opening of All that You Change Changes You) / Tout ce que tu touches, tu le change. A reception will be held in Craft Service Café by Crave with an exhibition viewing at 5 PM, followed by a sunset performance at 7 PM. The performance, titled Les Porteuses, will require audiences to physically move from the gallery spaces to the outdoors, with a procession through a section of Wascana Park. 

Les Porteuses is a performance based on a reimagining of a French-Canadian folk tale called “The Flying Canoe”. In Laura St. Pierre’s version, seven brave women from the future have made a pact with the devil to return to the 21st century in time traveling canoes. They have landed in Regina to collect plant specimens from the prairies that will be used to revegetate the barren landscape of their future world. Guest performers include B Garneau, Melanie Monique Rose, and Fran Gilboy. 

 

ABOUT THE ARTIST 

Laura St. Pierre explores her relationship with the natural environment through a multidisciplinary art practice. Her work has been exhibited in major art exhibitions such as the Alberta Biennale of Contemporary Art, the Bonavista Biennale, and Manif d’art – La biennale de Québec. Solo exhibitions of St. Pierre’s work have been presented at AKA Artist-Run, Saskatoon; Gallery 44 Centre for Contemporary Photography, Toronto; Galerie du Nouvel-Ontario, and University of Saskatchewan College Galleries, among others. St. Pierre has earned a bachelor’s degrees from the University of British Columbia and the University of Alberta, and completed a Master of Fine Arts degree at Concordia University in Montreal. Her work is in the permanent collections of The Dunlop Gallery in Regina, the Saskatchewan Arts Board, the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, and the Art Gallery of Alberta. She currently lives and works in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.  

 

ABOUT THE MACKENZIE  

The MacKenzie Art Gallery is Saskatchewan’s oldest public art gallery, and is committed to creating transformative experiences of the world through art. With a permanent collection that spans 5,000 years and nearly 5,000 works of art, we encompass both the University of Regina’s vast collection and one of Canada’s largest collections of Indigenous art, the Kampelmacher Memorial Collection. Through art, education, and immersive programming, the MacKenzie brings fresh perspectives that transform how people experience history, themselves, and each other.   

  

The MacKenzie is located in Wascana Park, Oskana Kâ’asastêki in Treaty Four territory, the traditional—and contemporary—territory of the Nehiyawak, Saulteaux, Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota people, and the homeland of the Métis Nation. We are grateful for the support of the Mackenzie Art Gallery Operating Endowment Fund at the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation, as well as the support of our core funders: the Canada Council for the Arts; SaskCulture; the City of Regina; the University of Regina; and the Saskatchewan Arts Board. 

 

MEDIA CONTACT

Mackenzy Vida

Communications Coordinator

MacKenzie Art Gallery

mvida@mackenzie.art

(306) 584-4250 ext. 4271

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