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<p class="MsoNormal"><a name="_Hlk114641491"><o:p> </o:p></a></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk114641491"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk114641491"><span lang="EN-CA"><img width="421" height="281" style="width:4.3854in;height:2.927in" id="_x0000_i1027" src="cid:image001.jpg@01D8CD9D.196A8340"></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk114641491"><span lang="EN-CA"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk114641491">Alicia Henry, <i>Untitled(13 female figures)</i> (detail), 2019, acrylic on felt, canvas, leather, dye, thread, charcoal, pastel, graphite, coloured pencil, yarn, cotton, rayon, linen, wool, nails,
dimensions variable, Courtesy the Artist and Liliana Bloch Gallery<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk114641491"><b>MEDIA RELEASE</b>
<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk114641491"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk114641491">For immediate release from
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk114641491">Kamloops Art Gallery<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk114641491">September 21, 2022<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk114641491"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk114641491"><span lang="EN-CA"><img width="226" height="98" style="width:2.3541in;height:1.0208in" id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:image002.jpg@01D8CD9D.196A8340"></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk114641491"><span lang="EN-CA"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk114641491"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk114641491"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk114641491"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk114641491"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk114641491"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk114641491"></span>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk114641491"><i><span lang="EN-CA"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk114641491"><i><span lang="EN-CA">Alicia Henry: Witnessing<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk114641491"><span lang="EN-CA">October 1 to December 31, 2022<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk114641491"><span lang="EN-CA"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk114641491"><span lang="EN-CA">Exhibition Tour // Saturday, October 1, 5:30 pm<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk114641491"><span lang="EN-CA">Opening Reception // 6:30 to 8:00 pm<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk114641491"><span lang="EN-CA">Everyone Welcome<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk114641491"><span lang="EN-CA"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk114641491"><span lang="EN-CA">For the last two decades, Alicia Henry has been exploring unconventional approaches to portraiture, using the face to represent something that is hidden, revealed, and performed.
Henry creates two-dimensional figures and group compositions that are commanding in their grace and expressiveness. Selecting her media carefully, she works with felt, canvas, and other textiles, as well as leather and paperboard, all of which absorb drawn
and stitched gestures that register a spectrum of contexts and emotions. Notions of gender and family are significant in her works, as are physical layers that suggest multiple and unfixed identities. Tender renditions of a mother with a child appear, as do
groupings of 20 or more females that signify formations of like-minded </span></span><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk114641491"><i><span lang="DA">families</span></i></span><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk114641491"><span lang="DA">
</span></span><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk114641491"><span lang="EN-CA">within communities.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk114641491"><span lang="EN-CA"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk114641491"><span lang="EN-CA">In
<i>Witnessing</i></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk114641491"><span lang="FR">, Henry</span></span><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk114641491"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span lang="AR-SA" dir="RTL" style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span></span><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk114641491"><span lang="EN-CA">s
compelling compositions are drawn from a multitude of references: the artist</span></span><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk114641491"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span lang="AR-SA" dir="RTL" style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span></span><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk114641491"><span lang="EN-CA">s
own memories, her collection of West African masks, and events on the street or on television, to name but a few. Imbued with her perspective as an African American woman, the figures assert themselves as timeless witnesses reflecting a variety of personal
and social histories.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk114641491"><span lang="EN-CA"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk114641491"><span lang="EN-CA">Henry does not view her work as political but acknowledges that
</span></span><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk114641491"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span lang="AR-SA" dir="RTL" style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>“</span></span><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk114641491"><span lang="EN-CA">at
this time in the United States, the brown body has become politicized.” In her installations, composed primarily of dark-toned figures, a lingering melancholy evokes racial traumas suffered by innumerable groups and individuals, today and over the centuries.
But simultaneously—through their direct gaze and erect composure—</span></span><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk114641491"><span lang="FR">Henry</span></span><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk114641491"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span lang="AR-SA" dir="RTL" style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span></span><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk114641491"><span lang="EN-CA">s
multigenerational survivors exude a powerful strength and confidence. They stand in anticipation of an egalitarian future—a utopian goal that underpins much of Henry</span></span><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk114641491"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span lang="AR-SA" dir="RTL" style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span></span><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk114641491"><span lang="EN-CA">s
work.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk114641491"><span lang="EN-CA"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk114641491"><b><span lang="EN-CA">The Artist<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk114641491"><span lang="EN-CA"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk114641491"><span lang="EN-CA">Originally from Illinois, Alicia Henry lives in Nashville, Tennessee. Her work has been the subject of numerous solo and group exhibitions at institutions around the world. She
has received many awards such as the Joan Mitchell Foundation Award, Ford Foundation Fellowship,
</span></span><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk114641491"><span lang="DE">Guggenheim Fellowship</span></span><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk114641491"><span lang="EN-CA">, and, most recently, the 1858 Prize for Contemporary Southern Art. Henry received her Bachelor
of Fine Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, her Masters of Fine Art at Yale University, and completed a residency at the prestigious Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. Henry is currently Professor of Art at Fisk University in Nashville,
one of the oldest black universities in the United States.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk114641491"><span lang="EN-CA"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk114641491"><span lang="EN-CA">Alicia Henry: Witnessing is initiated, organized, and circulated by The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, Toronto, Ontario, in collaboration with the Southern Alberta Art Gallery,
Lethbridge, Alberta; <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk114641491"><span lang="EN-CA">Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Halifax, Nova Scotia; and Kamloops Art Gallery.
<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk114641491"><span lang="EN-CA"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk114641491"><span lang="EN-CA">This exhibition is guest curated by Daina Augaitis.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk114641491"><span lang="EN-CA"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk114641491"><span lang="EN-CA">Sponsored by the TD Ready Commitment and supported by Lead Donor Lonti Ebers and Major Donor Peter M. Ross.
<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk114641491"><span lang="EN-CA"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk114641491"><b>Please direct all media inquiries to Charo Neville, Curator, Kamloops Art Gallery, (250) 377-2410 or
</b></span><a href="mailto:cneville@kag.bc.ca"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk114641491"><b>cneville@kag.bc.ca</b></span><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk114641491"></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk114641491"><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk114641491"><b><o:p> </o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk114641491">@kamloopsartgallery<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk114641491"><b><span lang="EN-CA"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk114641491"><b><span lang="EN-CA">About the Kamloops Art Gallery<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk114641491"><b><span lang="EN-CA"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk114641491"><span lang="EN-CA">Founded in 1978, the Kamloops Art Gallery offers inspiring, provocative and transformative art experiences of national caliber. Located in Secwepemcúlecw, it is the largest art
gallery in the Interior of British Columbia and boasts a collection of over 3,000 works of art. With more than 12 exhibitions every year, the Gallery offers diverse, accessible and affordable experiences including talks, tours and studio-based programming
for people of all ages and abilities.</span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size:12.0pt"><img border="0" width="830" height="48" style="width:8.6458in;height:.5in" id="Picture_x0020_3" src="cid:image003.png@01D8CD9D.196A8340" alt="signature_1840475354"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size:12.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:12.65pt"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Avenir Next";color:#222A35"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:12.65pt"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Avenir Next";color:#222A35"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Avenir Light";color:#333F50;letter-spacing:1.0pt">KAMLOOPS ART GALLERY<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Avenir LT Std 35 Light";color:#333F50;letter-spacing:1.0pt">101 – 465 Victoria Street, Kamloops, BC V2C 2A9</span><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Avenir LT Std 35 Light";color:#333F50"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Avenir LT Std 35 Light";color:#333F50;letter-spacing:1.0pt">250.377.2400 | </span><a href="http://www.kag.bc.ca/"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Avenir LT Std 35 Light";color:#333F50;letter-spacing:1.0pt">www.kag.bc.ca</span></a><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Avenir LT Std 35 Light";color:#333F50"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Avenir LT Std 35 Light";color:#333F50;letter-spacing:1.0pt"> </span><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Avenir LT Std 35 Light";color:#333F50"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Avenir LT Std 35 Light";color:#333F50;letter-spacing:1.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Avenir LT Std 35 Light";color:#333F50;letter-spacing:1.0pt">The Kamloops Art Gallery is situated on the traditional unceded lands of the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc
within Secwepemcúl’ecw; the traditional territory of the Secwépemc people.</span><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Avenir LT Std 35 Light";color:#333F50"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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