GWENESSA LAM
The Rusty Toque | Issue 13 | Visual Art | November 30, 2017
Wainfleet.
Oil on Canvas
24 x 36 Inches.
2016
Image Search no. 1 (House Fire).
Oil on Canvas.
24 x 30 Inches.
2016
Unknown: Winnipeg Arson.
Graphite on Paper Mounted on Panel.
3 x 4 Inches.
2016
North Admiral Vacant House.
Graphite on Paper Mounted on Panel.
3 x 4 Inches.
2016
Brentwood Estates Accident.
Graphite on Paper Mounted on Panel.
3 x 4 Inches.
2016
Cluster no. 5.
Graphite on Paper.
24 x 18 Inches.
2014
Cluster no. 6 (Shaoxian).
Graphite on Paper.
24 x 18 Inches.
2014
Majianglong.
Soft Pastel on Panel.
34 x 48 Inches.
2014
Jianming Tower (I).
Graphite on Paper.
31 x 45 Inches.
2014
Falling Tower . Graphite on Paper.
37.75 x 27.75 Inches.
2013
STATEMENT ON WORK
The notion of home can be a complex site of memory, against which one gauges a sense of place. In light of increased migration, controlled and forced travel, Gwenessa Lam's works consider how the image of the home functions when one is dislocated. For some, the idea of home is reclaimed or transformed with new surroundings; for others it is a lost and distant place. Informed by these observations, Lam's work explores domestic and historical spaces as sites of collective memory, and by extension, the psychological and social implications when they are disrupted.
The notion of home can be a complex site of memory, against which one gauges a sense of place. In light of increased migration, controlled and forced travel, Gwenessa Lam's works consider how the image of the home functions when one is dislocated. For some, the idea of home is reclaimed or transformed with new surroundings; for others it is a lost and distant place. Informed by these observations, Lam's work explores domestic and historical spaces as sites of collective memory, and by extension, the psychological and social implications when they are disrupted.
GWENESSA LAM is a visual artist and educator. Her artwork stems from interests in perception and the compression of time and memory within images. Lam received her BFA from the University of British Columbia and MFA from New York University. She has taught at New York University, Emily Carr University of Art and Design, the University of British Columbia. She has attended residencies at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Skowhegan, MacDowell Colony, Yaddo, and the Banff Centre. Her work has been exhibited at the Bronx Museum of Art , the Queens Museum of Art in New York, Galerie de L'UQAM, and Republic Gallery in Vancouver. Lam is currently on faculty at the Alberta College of Art and Design. GWENESSALAM.COM
