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<h1 style="margin-top:0cm;background:white"><span style="font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#2A2A2A">Vessna Perunovich | Raven Davis</span><span style="font-size:18.0pt"><o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<h4 style="margin-top:0cm;background:white"><strong><span style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#2A2A2A">New Dates:
<u>February 9-March 25</u></span></strong><o:p></o:p></h4>
<h4 style="margin-top:0cm;background:white"><strong><span style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#2A2A2A">University of Waterloo Art Gallery</span></strong><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#2A2A2A"><o:p></o:p></span></h4>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#2A2A2A">UWAG will be open to visitors with proof of vaccination from Wednesday to Friday 12-5 PM with a limit of 5 visitors at a time.
</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Exhibition d<span style="color:#2A2A2A">ocumentation will be posted on our
<a href="https://uwag.uwaterloo.ca/">website</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Please join us for a conversation with artist Vessna Perunovich and artist, curator and art historian Bojana Videkanic on Thursday February 10 at 7 PM EST. Register via
<a href="https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/in-conversation-vessna-perunovich-with-bojana-videkanic-tickets-255688440007">
Eventbrite</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Save the date for a conversation with artist Raven Davis on March 17. Details to follow<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><img border="0" width="801" height="473" style="width:8.3437in;height:4.927in" id="Picture_x0020_3" src="cid:image001.jpg@01D81C0C.B09B4260" alt="Vessna Perunovich, “I Am Still. Travelling” (video still), 2020, HD video, 4:01 min, courtesy of the artist. Description: The artist, dressed in matching black dress and face mask, walks along a paved pathway in front of a large water treatment plant, pulling a long nautical rope ladder behind her."></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">VESSNA PERUNOVICH<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">Here. In Absence<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">Here. In Absence
</span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">is informed by the unsettling disposition of the world we live in and our collective experience over the last two years of pandemic. Echoing various crises in society today, the
works in the exhibition evoke a reflective space for contemplation and connection around themes of isolation, division and belonging, expanding on concerns at the heart of Perunovich’s practice: boundaries, displacement and migration.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">I am Still. Traveling</span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black"> anchors the viewer to a place that
is neither foreign nor familiar. Filmed in 2020 at the R.C. Harris Water Treatment Plant beside Lake Ontario, the video depicts the artist walking around this seemingly abandoned environment dragging the burden of a nautical Jacob’s ladder. An ethereal soundscape
composed around the industrial sound of a locomotive underlines the Sisyphean task the artist is engaged in, and suggests places elsewhere.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">Reversed Code</span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black"> is informed by messaging codes such as Braille,
an alphabet for the visually impaired; binary code used for computing and patterns in weaving; and ethical codes of conduct such as the United Nation’s Universal Declaration of Rights and Freedoms. The ten screens that make up the installation strike a poetic
balance between darkness and light, beauty and violation. The work invites us to contemplate the precarious role of language and communication in a world that feels increasingly confusing and isolating.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">Both works are being exhibited in North America for the first time. The exhibition is generously supported by production grants from The Canada
Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council and Toronto Arts Council.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">Vessna Perunovich</span></b><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black"> is a Toronto-based interdisciplinary artist whose work embraces performance, video, sculpture,
painting and drawing, to address issues around home, displacement and boundaries. Her work was included as part of</span><i><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black"> So-Called Reality</span></i><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">,
Risk Change Project, National Gallery of Montenegro (2020)</span><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">; and
<i>Ad Infinitum</i>, part of the 13<sup>th</sup> Havana Biennial, Cuba (2019). </span>
<span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">Recent solo exhibitions include “Fragments of a Whole” at the Contemporary Art Gallery Pancevo, Serbia (2021) and "Shifting Shelter"
</span><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">at Illingworth Kerr Gallery, Alberta University of the Arts, Calgary (2019)</span><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">. She has exhibited as part of international biennials
in Cuba, Albania, England, Venice, Portugal, Yugoslavia and Greece, and attended residencies in Banff, Berlin, Bursa and Istanbul, New York, Beijing and Malta. Her survey exhibitions
<i>Borderless</i> and <i>Emblems of Enigma</i> toured to galleries and museums across Canada and Europe. She is the recipient of a Chalmers Fellowship Grant (2019) and has been awarded grants by The Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council and Toronto
Arts Council.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;line-height:150%"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#231F20;background:white"><img border="0" width="801" height="534" style="width:8.3437in;height:5.5625in" id="Picture_x0020_2" src="cid:image002.jpg@01D81C0C.B09B4260" alt="Raven Davis, “Mmenwenmad | To Save for Later” (detail #3 of 10), 2021-22, photo print on canvas, 54 x 38 inches, courtesy of the artist. Description: The artist, lying on their side on a rocky tidal lagoon at the ocean's edge, struggles to hang off a precariously balanced two-drawer filing cabinet sitting in the water."></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">RAVEN DAVIS<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Mmenwenmad | To Save for Later<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:115%"><b><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">Mmenwenmad | To Save for Later</span></i><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black"> is a new body of work by Raven Davis rooted in acknowledging the physical body,
and lived experience as an incalculable, unwritten document. Davis’ monochromatic images capture the artist on the coastline of Mi’kma’ki, also known as the Atlantic coast. Through movement, sound, and the juxtaposition to land, body, Davis engages with a
common archiving two-drawer filing cabinet that is incapable of archiving the continuum of one's lived experience or intimate relationships with the land. Exploring transgenerational epigenetic matrilineal inheritance, Davis embodies a personal choreography
that expresses the impacts of colonialism, trauma, disability, transness, diaspora, and relationship to the land. In doing so, Davis draws on their previous body of works with monuments, creating temporary tributes honouring the water, land, sky world. Questioning,
what has been deemed “worthy” of saving, what has been lost, and what has been intentionally left out.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">Raven Davis</span></b><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black"> is an Anishinaabe, 2-Spirit, transgender, disabled multidisciplinary artist, activist, and educator
whose mother is from Treaty Four in Manitoba. Davis was born and raised in Michi Saagig Territory/Toronto, Ontario, and resides and works fluidly between Toronto and Kjipuktuk/Halifax. A parent of three sons, Davis works within the mediums of painting, performance,
and media. Challenging systemic oppression, Davis fuses narratives of colonization, race, gender, disability, transformative justice, and 2-Spirit/Indigiqueer identity in their work. Davis’ performance and art practice bravely embodies their lived experience,
reclaiming histories of Indigenous peoples’ restoring cultural knowledge, and honouring land, water and collective kinship futures. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin:0cm;vertical-align:baseline"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin:0cm;vertical-align:baseline"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">This exhibition is an extension of the
<a href="https://www.cafka.org/">CAFKA.21</a> biennial, <em><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0cm">Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost</span></em>. CAFKA would like to acknowledge the generous support of the Canada
Council for the Arts.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><strong><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">ADMIT EVERYONE</span></strong><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black"><br>
University of Waterloo Art Gallery<br>
East Campus Hall, Room 1239<br>
519.888.4567 ext. 33575<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black"><a href="https://uwag.uwaterloo.ca/">Website</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/uwag.waterloo/">Facebook</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/uwartgallery/">Instagram</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black"><br>
</span><strong><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">CONTACT</span></strong><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black"><br>
Ivan Jurakic, Director/Curator<br>
519.888.4567 ext. 46741<br>
<a href="mailto:ijurakic@uwaterloo.ca" target="_blank">ijurakic@uwaterloo.ca</a></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><strong><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">HOURS</span></strong><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black"><br>
Wednesday to Friday 12-5 pm<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">Or by appointment<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><strong><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">MOBILITY</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">Ground floor entry</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">Automated doors available at Fine Arts entrance</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">Wide pathways</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">Accessible washrooms on ground level</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><strong><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">DRIVING</span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">263 Phillip Street, Waterloo<br>
East Campus Hall (ECH) is located adjacent to Engineering 6 (E6)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">Campus
<a href="https://uwaterloo.ca/map/">map</a></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black"><br>
</span><strong><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">PARKING</span></strong><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black"><br>
Visitor Parking is available in Lot B beside Engineering 6 (E6) for a flat rate of $5<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">Campus
<a href="https://uwaterloo.ca/map/">map</a><br>
<br>
</span><strong><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">MAILING</span></strong><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black"><br>
University of Waterloo Art Gallery<br>
200 University Avenue West<br>
Waterloo, ON, Canada N2L 3G1<br>
<br>
<img border="0" width="250" height="100" style="width:2.6041in;height:1.0416in" id="Picture_x0020_5" src="cid:image003.jpg@01D81C0C.B09B4260"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black"><br>
</span><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">IMAGE 1: Vessna Perunovich</span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">, “I Am Still. Travelling” (video still), 2020, HD video, 4:01
min, courtesy of the artist. <b>Description:</b> The artist, dressed in matching black dress and face mask, walks along a paved pathway in front of a large water treatment plant, pulling a long nautical rope ladder behind her.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">IMAGE 2: Raven Davis</span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">, “</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">Mmenwenmad |
To Save for Later” (detail #3 of 10)</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">, 2021-22, photo print on canvas, 54 x 38 inches, courtesy of the artist.
<b>Description:</b> The artist, lying on their side on a rocky tidal lagoon at the ocean's edge, struggles to hang off a precariously balanced two-drawer filing cabinet sitting in the water.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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