[BCMA] Kamloops Art Gallery Media Release | Johnny Bandura The 215 opens April 15

[Moderated BCMA subscriber listserv]

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Johnny Bandura, Desert Warrior, The General Warrior in Fox Hat, The Bride, The Spaceman, The Librarian, all works 2021, oil on canvas, 28 x 35.5 cm, courtesy of the Artist.

MEDIA RELEASE

For immediate release from
Kamloops Art Gallery
April 3, 2023

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Johnny Bandura
The 215

April 15 to June 24, 2023
The Cube, Kamloops Art Gallery

Johnny Bandura paints the stolen futures of the 215 children found in graves at the former Kamloops Residential School.
It’s been two years since the May 2021 discovery of the 215 children in graves at the site of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School, referred to by Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc as Le Estcwicwéy̓ (the missing). Qayqayt First Nation artist  Johnny Bandura painted 215 portraits that imagine what the children may have become had they survived to adulthood. Bandura began painting the portraits as a therapeutic process; his grandmother was a Residential School survivor from Kamloops, and he remains connected to family in the region. The faces in the portraits are rendered in black and white to reference the absence of the children’s lives, while splashes of colour emphasize ornamentation and dress that imagine the children’s futures. The portraits depict people in Indigenous regalia as well as individuals wearing uniforms of everyday occupations, representing the lives missing from our community.

On in The Cube at the Kamloops Art Gallery throughout the spring, this exhibition offers a space of contemplation marking the second anniversary of the findings.

Curated by Craig Willms, Assistant Curator, Kamloops Art Gallery

Read the full exhibition text here<https://kag.bc.ca/all-exhibitions/thecube-215>.



Media Information
Craig Willms, Assistant Curator
250.377.2406
cwillms at kag.bc.ca

About the Kamloops Art Gallery

The Kamloops Art Gallery, established in 1978, is located in Tk̓emlupsemcúlecw, the traditional and unceded lands of the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc. The largest art gallery in Secwepemcúl̓ecw (the Interior of British Columbia), the Gallery offers national caliber art experiences through a diverse range of accessible and affordable exhibitions, talks, tours, and studio-based programming for all ages and abilities, and boasts a collection of over 3,000 works of art.


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