Saskatchewan Arts Board

The Mendel Art Gallery presents one of its most ambitions exhibitions to date, with Jayce Salloum: history of the present (selected works, 1985-2009), a coproduction of the Mendel Art Gallery with the Kamloops Art Gallery and the Confederation Centre Art Gallery in Charlottetown, PEI.

The show is a mid-career survey of the internationally recognized Canadian artist’s photo and video-based installation works, which explore identity, migration, and shifting borders and territories in the contemporary world.

Salloum pursues a varied career; he works as a curator and cultural activist, has founded artist collectives in Canada, the United States, and Lebanon, and practices as an artist at the intersection of text, video, installation and photographic work. The Lebanese-Canadian artist, whose grandparents immigrated to rural Saskatchewan in the 1930s, grew up in Kelowna and left home at 17 to travel and make art, a journey that led him across Canada, to Africa, and then to California. He is now based in Vancouver, but continues to travel constantly, making work and exhibiting his work all over the world.

Much of Salloum’s work appears as a vast and complex archive of these journeys, a meticulously organized array of snapshots, souvenirs and documents, as well as striking video installations. His collections offer  a degree of flexibility. One is able to reconstruct many possible narratives, and they leave room for the imaginative input of the viewer.

Jayce Salloum: history of the present (selected works, 1985-2009) runs September 30, 2011 until January 8, 2012. The exhibition was organized and circulated with funding from the Audain Foundation and the Museums Assistance Program, Department of Canadian Heritage.

Jayce Salloum: history of the present (selected works 1985-2009) is curated by Jen Budney, Associate Curator at Mendel Art Gallery, co-produced by Kamloops Art Gallery, Mendel Art Gallery and Confederation Centre Art Gallery, and supported by the Audain Foundation and the Museums Assistance Program, Department of Canadian Heritage. The exhibition has been touring Canada since 2009.