Groundworks / Travaux de Terrassement / Lupang Trabaho

November 24, 2023 - January 7, 2024

Maison de la Culture Notre-Dame-De-Grâce Galerie Monkland

Groundworks is an exhibition consisting of sculptural and wall works by Kuh Del Rosario and a large site-specific drawing by Matt Shane.

Matt Shane’s mother was born and raised in the former veteran’s housing complex known as Benny Farm at the exact site of what is now a library and public gallery. His drawing is made for this site, amalgamating imagery from family photos, historical images, and photos of the present-day neighbourhood.

Statement from the artist:

This drawing weaves together images from Benny Farm’s past and present, adding an interpretive layer to the many conversations that surround this storied and contested neighbourhood. Over several visits, I have better acquainted myself with my mother’s version of Montreal, which is very different from my own.

The drawing is full of strands (vines, clotheslines, kite strings and spider webs) that connect crops and trees with buildings and furniture. I see it as a kind of oneiric architecture growing out of a nebulous mind-space.

I have depicted recognizable places in time, but I don’t hope to sum up or explain the history of Benny Farm. Instead, the work can be seen as a longing to apprehend the places and people that make me who I am, while acknowledging the impossibility of ever really succeeding in such a task.

Exhibition text by Laia Nalian can be found here.

This project was supported by the Canada Council for the Arts.