Exhibit to challenge assumptions about aging

Bodies in Translation -- poster

From September 9 toNovember 12, 2017, the Mount Saint Vincent University Art Gallery will be home to a special exhibition of works that challenge assumptions about aging and explore the lived experience of aging, as it relates to identity, culture, embodiment, sexuality and disability. This is the first time the Gallery has featured an age-focused exhibit.

Each piece in the exhibition, Bodies in Translation: Age and Creativity, is created by an older artist whose work explores aging as a theme or as an influence on the artistic process. The artists participating in the exhibit work in various disciplines, and all are based in the Maritimes: Cecil Day, Michael Fernandes, Karen Langlois, Onni Nordman, MJ Sakurai, George Steeves and Anna Torma.

The exhibition was organized by the MSVU Art Gallery in collaboration with “Bodies in Translation: Activist Art, Technology, and Access to Life”, a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council-funded Partnership Project, and with the Nova Scotia Centre on Aging (NSCA). The NSCA at the Mount is celebrating its 25
th anniversary this year, making it one of the longest standing university-based research centres on aging in Canada.

This exhibition is intended to be accessible for people with a range of abilities. There will be Braille, audio guides, subtitled videos, ASL interpreters, textured floors for ease of finding one’s way through the exhibit, touchable art, as well as printed interpretive guides, which will be available in Grade 1 Braille, Grade 2 Braille, and large print. There will also be a quiet room available for visitors who may wish to retreat to a quiet place. In addition, there will be attendants on site to assist and provide interpretation. Accessible parking and gender neutral washrooms are available on site. Service animals are welcome. Visitors are asked to help make the gallery scent-free by refraining from the use of heavily-scented products.

The exhibit will run from September 9 to November 12, 2017. A reception for the public is scheduled for 2 to 4 p.m. on Sunday, October 1, to celebrate the exhibition and to recognize
International Day of Older Persons . Media are welcome to attend.

The Mount Saint Vincent University Art Gallery is located on the Mount campus at the
Seton Academic Centre, 166 Bedford Hwy, Halifax (Art Gallery entrance off of building lobby – MAP)

(Click the image above to view a larger version of the poster)


About MSVU Art Gallery
Opened in 1971, the MSVU Art Gallery exists as a resource to Mount Saint Vincent University, communities served by the University, artists and art publics everywhere. The gallery reflects the university’s educational mission by emphasizing the representation of women as cultural subjects and producers. Through its focus on contemporary art and internships, the art gallery has been a catalyst to many careers in visual art. Its exhibitions explore various forms of cultural production, highlighting the achievements of Nova Scotian artists and themes relevant to academic programs offered by the university. More

About the Nova Scotia Centre on Aging
Established in 1992, the Nova Scotia Centre on Aging (NSCA) is a university-based research centre that conducts applied research on age-related issues. Earlier this year, the Global Ageing Network named the NSCA one of two 2017 recipients (world-wide) of its Award for Excellence in Applied Research. The NSCA’s mission is to advance knowledge on aging to inform social policy and practice and enhance the quality of life of older people and their families. Through its networks, expertise and publications, the NSCA is a resource to university scholars, students, community-based researchers, practitioners, educators, government, service providers, seniors’ and professional organizations, media, families and the general public. More

About Bodies in Translation: Activist Art, Technology, and Access to Life (SSHRC-funded project)
Bodies in Translation: Activist Art, Technology, and Access to Life (ReVision: Centre for Art and Social Change at University of Guelph and Tangled Art + Disability)is a seven-year SSHRC-funded partnership project that brings together universities, community groups, and arts organizations to investigate Canadian activist art, defined in this grant as Deaf, Disability, and Mad art, Fat art, Indigenous art, and art created by aging/aged people and Elders. The initiative aims to: create a publicly accessible archive of activist art in Canada; think through the ways technology opens up possibilities for creating, exhibiting, and experiencing art; and evaluate how the ability to access and experience activist art in galleries and theatres, online, in public space, and in curriculum changes understanding of embodied difference and, in this way, contributes to social change.

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For more information:

Elaine MacFadyen
Nova Scotia Centre on Aging
902-457-6322
Elaine.macfadyen@msvu.ca


Gillian Batten
Mount Saint Vincent University
902-457-6439
Gillian.Batten@msvu.ca