Artworks emerge at a particular moment. They may be designed to answer or expand upon certain meaningful questions or events put forth by the artist’s own circumstances and histories. Artworks may also reflect upon our collective and shared experiences. My Winnipeg: Maps & Legends explores private and public occurrences that build upon and question the city’s multiple, subjective histories and identities.

My Winnipeg: Maps & Legends exposes personal and social histories that have contributed to Winnipeg’s identity. For example, engaging the viewer through her installation House on Fire, Sarah Anne Johnson grapples with her family’s hardships and their strained relationship with the medically-altered mind of her maternal grandmother, an effect of CIA-funded brainwashing experiments. Karel Funk’s realist, neo-Renaissance portrait of an unknown young urbanite deliberately obscures the subject’s face by the hood of a winter jacket, Winnipeg’s unofficial eight-month uniform.

As this exhibition unfolds, the artworks’ individual readings and connotations recede – catalyzing multiple works to collectively create new narratives and ideas of “Winnipeg.” For the people who live, have lived, and are yet to live here, these artworks provide both reflections and maps to the unique cultures that thrive within this city. My Winnipeg: Maps & Legends stimulates viewers to reflect upon their own personal and public stories. These encounters and struggles are shaped by the city’s legends, realities as well as a co-mingling of both fact and fiction.

The artists include: KC Adams, Daniel Barrow, Paul Butler, Eleanor Bond, Aganetha Dyck, William Eakin, Karel Funk, Noam Gonick, Robert Houle, Simon Hughes, Sarah Anne Johnson, and Diana Thorneycroft.

The My Winnipeg Project is co-curated by Paula Aisemberg, Sigrid Dahle, Hervé di Rosa, Noam Gonick, Anthony Kiendl, and Cathy Mattes. It is co-organized by Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art, la maison rouge, Musée international des arts modestes (Sète), School of Art Gallery, University of Manitoba, and the National Arts Centre (Ottawa).

Plug In ICA gratefully acknowledges the support of the Manitoba Arts Council, Canada Council for the Arts, Winnipeg Arts Council, Canadian Heritage, the Winnipeg Foundation, our donors, members and volunteers.

Chapter Sponsor: Michael F.B. Nesbitt

Make sure to check Plug In ICA’s website for the complete artist list, additional programs, events, and talks during the run of My Winnipeg (September 2012 through March 2013).

A publication accompanies this exhibition and is available in the Plug In ICA Art Book Shop.