This is a multimedia exhibition by Toronto based interdisciplinary artist Deanna Bowen. The exhibition is comprised of two installation works: Gospel (2008) and Shadow on the Prairie (2009).
Both works are a result of the artists’ efforts to document her great grandparents’ migration from Alabama to Western Canada.
Gospel is an interdisciplinary suite of works (photo series, video installation and audio/sculptural work) that explores complex notions of trauma and recurrent sorrow. Alternately framed as a song of loss and longing, the combined works form a surreal semi-autobiographical account of a daughter’s repudiation of mother, family, and home.
Shadow on the Prairie is an interdisciplinary installation (video installation and vinyl floor text) that derives its name and overarching narrative from the National Film Board of Canada’s 1952 film adaptation of Gweneth Lloyd’s seminal ballet “Shadow on the Prairie: A Canadian Ballet.”