Adad Hannah: The Raft of Medusa (100 Mile House)
Exhibition at Oxygen Art Centre from August 10th to 31st, 2013
The Oxygen Art Centre is thrilled to be bringing the work of photographer and video artist Adad Hannah to Nelson this August for an exhibition of his project The Raft of Medusa (100 Mile House). Hanna was born in New York in 1971, spent his childhood in Israel and England. He moved to Vancouver in the early 1980’s. Hannah has exhibited his work all over the world where his work is collected by public institutions including the National Gallery of Canada. He has been long listed for the Sobey Art Award three times.
Oxygen Art Center will be showing both videos and photographic stills from Hannah’s re-enactment of French painter Theodore Gericault’s iconic painting The Raft of the Medusa (1818-1819). Gericault painting is considered a landmark work of the Romantic era were he bridges neoclassical ideology with the new romantic vision of freedom. The painting captures a moment of hope and the reality of despair as the castaways of the French shipwreck spot a ship on the horizon.
The Raft of the Medusa (100 Mile House) 2
2009, colour photograph / épreuve photographique couleur
100.5 x 133.5 cm / 39.5 x 52.5 in. Edition of 5.
51 x 68.5 cm / 20 x 27 in. Edition of 5.
In 2009 Adad Hannah travelled to 100 Mile House B.C to remount the epic scene painted by Gericault in video and photograph form. In order to do this Hannah engaged the help of local high school students and community members to construct a tableau vivant or living picture of The Raft of Medusa. Typical of Hannah’s artistic practice where he creates a space for the viewer to question the framing of history and renew their perception of the institution of collecting and viewing art which is the legacy of our museum culture.
Oxygen art Centre would like to acknowledge the support of the Province of British Columbia, the Columbia Basin Trust and the British Columbia Arts Council in making this exhibition and other programing possible. We would also like to thank Pheonix Computers and Hall Printing of Nelson for their assistance with this exhibition.
Opening Night: Friday, August 9th from 7-9pm
Gallery Hours: Wednesday to Saturday form 1-5pm
Artist Talk: Saturday, August 10 at 4pm as part of the Columbia Basin Tour this exhibition will be open both Saturday, August 9th and Sunday, August 10th from 10am to 5pm.
Oxygen Art Centre is located at 320 Vernon St (Alley Entrance).
