In this exhibition, emerging, Abbotsford-based artist Kendra Schellenberg explores the relationship between womanhood and beauty. Her work considers the connection between the body and identity, specifically in relation to femininity, and the ways the interaction between an idealized body and objectification impacts the development of the self. Schellenberg challenges socially accepted notions of the perfect body by combining elements of beauty and the grotesque, creating images that attract and repel at the same time.
On display are four works from the artist’s Object Spaces series, depicting semi-abstracted female bodies on constructed, three-dimensional wood panels. Each form has been carefully traced from an issue of Sports Illustrated. Wood knots and grains mingle with thorns and vines to create female forms that mimic the highly sexualized images we see in media culture, while also questioning how “natural” the association between womanhood and beauty actually is.
The related series BoxBodies specifically explores the relationship between colour and gender associations. Here she depicts three deliberately androgynous forms in blue, pink, and yellow. Each body is twisted and compressed, suggesting how a fluid spectrum of human sexual and gender identity is often forced to fit into strict binary categories, often from the time colours are selected for us as children.
Schellenberg’s work prompts us to consider what it means to be feminine and challenges us to rethink our own notions of the idealized body. By reworking familiar images and placing them in unusual contexts, she asks us to look differently at the sexualized images we constantly see in popular culture and to reconsider how we view ourselves, not only as women but as human beings.
The Reach Art on Demand 5.1 Monograph
Originally exhibited in Abbotsford at The Reach Gallery Museum December 08, 2023 to January 27, 2024.
Originally exhibited in Abbotsford at The Reach Gallery Museum October 14, 2023 to December 02, 2023.
Originally exhibited in Abbotsford at The Reach Gallery Museum March 24, 2023 to May 06, 2023.
Originally exhibited in Abbotsford at The Reach Gallery Museum January 27, 2023 to March 18, 2023.
Originally exhibited in Abbotsford at The Reach Gallery Museum November 18, 2022 to January 08, 2023.
Originally exhibited in Abbotsford at The Reach Gallery Museum September 23, 2022 to November 12, 2022.
Originally exhibited in Abbotsford at The Reach Gallery Museum March 25, 2022 to May 07, 2022.
Originally exhibited in Abbotsford at The Reach Gallery Museum January 28, 2022 to March 19, 2022.
Originally exhibited in Abbotsford at The Reach Gallery Museum November 18, 2021 to January 08, 2022.
Originally exhibited in Abbotsford at The Reach Gallery Museum October 01, 2021 to November 13, 2021.
Originally exhibited in Abbotsford at The Reach Gallery Museum March 25, 2021 to May 08, 2021.
Originally exhibited in Abbotsford at The Reach Gallery Museum January 28, 2021 to March 20, 2021.
Originally exhibited in Abbotsford at The Reach Gallery Museum November 05, 2020 to January 09, 2021.
Originally exhibited in Abbotsford at The Reach Gallery Museum September 10, 2020 to November 01, 2020.
Originally exhibited in Abbotsford at The Reach Gallery Museum March 12, 2020 to April 26, 2020.
Originally exhibited in Abbotsford at The Reach Gallery Museum January 23, 2020 to March 08, 2020.
Originally exhibited in Abbotsford at The Reach Gallery Museum November 21, 2019 to January 05, 2020.
Originally exhibited in Abbotsford at The Reach Gallery Museum October 03, 2019 to November 17, 2019.
Originally exhibited in Abbotsford at The Reach Gallery Museum March 14, 2019 to May 05, 2019.
Originally exhibited in Abbotsford at The Reach Gallery Museum November 15, 2018 to January 06, 2019.
Originally exhibited in Abbotsford at The Reach Gallery Museum September 27, 2018 to November 10, 2018.
Originally exhibited in Abbotsford at The Reach Gallery Museum March 15, 2018 to May 06, 2018.
Originally exhibited in Abbotsford at The Reach Gallery Museum January 18, 2018 to March 11, 2018.
Originally exhibited in Abbotsford at The Reach Gallery Museum November 16, 2017 to December 31, 2017.
Originally exhibited in Abbotsford at The Reach Gallery Museum September 21, 2017 to November 12, 2017.
Originally exhibited in Abbotsford at The Reach Gallery Museum March 23, 2017 to May 07, 2017.
Originally exhibited in Abbotsford at The Reach Gallery Museum January 26, 2017 to March 19, 2017.
Originally exhibited in Abbotsford at The Reach Gallery Museum November 24, 2016 to January 08, 2017.
Originally exhibited in Abbotsford at The Reach Gallery Museum September 22, 2016 to November 20, 2016.
Originally exhibited in Abbotsford at The Reach Gallery Museum July 21, 2016 to September 11, 2016.
Originally exhibited in Abbotsford at The Reach Gallery Museum June 16, 2016 to July 17, 2016.
Originally exhibited in Abbotsford at The Reach Gallery Museum December 03, 2015 to January 03, 2016.
Originally exhibited in Abbotsford at The Reach Gallery Museum October 29, 2015 to November 29, 2015.
Originally exhibited in Abbotsford at The Reach Gallery Museum August 06, 2015 to September 06, 2015.
Originally exhibited in Abbotsford at The Reach Gallery Museum July 11, 2015 to August 02, 2015.
Originally exhibited in Abbotsford at The Reach Gallery Museum May 30, 2015 to July 05, 2015.
