Nostalgic Geography: Mama and Papa have Trains, Orchards and Mountains in their Backyard
prOphecy sun and Darren Fleet
6 September 2019 – 28 September 2019

Residency Dates: August 19 – September 5
Opening Reception: Friday September 6 | 6:30pm (before Art Walk Gala)
Artist Talk: Saturday September 7 | 4:00pm
Closing Dinner: Friday September 27th | 5:30pm (Blue Night)
Exhibition Dates: September 6 – 28, Wednesday-Saturday 1-5pm

sun and Fleet have been in residence at Oxygen from August 19 through September 5, 2019. The opening reception for the artists will be held on Friday September 6 at 6:30pm, before the Nelson Art Walk Gala at Hall Street Plaza. An artist talk with both artists present will take place on Saturday September 7th at 4:00pm.

The exhibition will run from September 6 through 28th, with a closing dinner open to the public on September 27th at 5:30pm at Oxygen Art Centre, where they will prepare a meal using food harvested from their family’s farm in Harrop-Procter. During the exhibition, Oxygen Art Centre will be open to the public Wednesday – Saturday 1:00pm-5:00pm. Admission is free or by donation. Oxygen Art Centre is located at 320 Vernon street (alley entrance behind Hipperson’s Hardware).

Harrop-Procter is a rural community surrounded by historical fruit orchards, mountainous meadows and a train rail line that hugs the lakeside and rides from west to east daily. Where once paddleboats used to navigate the lake, now cars, trucks and fibre optic cables connect us together. “Yet, these historical relations remain, shaping our imaginaries with deep grooves in the senses of the land,” says sun. On the hillsides in and around Sunshine Bay, neatly parcelled residential lots now cut through what was once a thriving fruit producing region. The aged trees, many of them grey, gnarled, and half broken, are buried up to their branches in tall grass, yet continue to produce apples.

In Nostalgic Geography: Mama and Papa have Trains, Orchards and Mountains in their Backyard artists prOphecy sun and Darren Fleet use AV technology to reveal the complex social and economic relations that have shaped the historical orchards and surrounding landscape. An ambient soundscore composed of field recordings taken in-situ will accompany the moving imagery, amplified throughout the gallery.

About prOcephy sun and Darren Fleet

prOphecy sun is an interdisciplinary performance artist, feminist, movement, video and sound maker, mother and PhD Candidate at the School of Interactive Arts + Technology at Simon Fraser University. She holds a BFA and MFA from Emily Carr University of Art + Design. Her practice celebrates both conscious and unconscious moments, and the vulnerable spaces of the in-between in which art and life overlap. She performs and exhibits regularly in local, national and international settings, festivals, conferences and galleries. She is also the recipient of the Governor Generals Award and the Lakehead Jurors Prize and has authored several peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and journal publications.

Darren Fleet is an ex-poet from Aldergrove, schooled in the Fukovian theory of aesthetics. He is also a writer, journalist, photographer and PhD candidate and instructor at the SFU School of Communication. His interests include consumer culture, environmental discourse and the cultural politics of fossil fuels. He holds an MA in Journalism from UBC and was part of the editorial team at Adbusters magazine that launched the #occupywallstreet meme into the world. His work has been featured in numerous publications and forums including: Vice, Public, Journalists for Human Rights, UTNE Reader, Al-Jazeera, The National Observer, The Tyee, The Globe & Mail, and at the Istanbul Biennial of Art.

Oxygen Art Centre gratefully acknowledges the support we receive from municipal, regional, provincial and federal levels of government.