Art Windsor-Essex respectfully acknowledges that we are located on Anishinaabe Territory – the traditional territory of the Three Fires Confederacy of First Nations, comprised of the Ojibway, the Odawa, and the Potawatomi. Today the Anishinaabe of the Three Fires Confederacy are represented by Bkejwanong. We want to state our respect for the ancestral and ongoing authority of Walpole Island First Nation over its Territory.
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- Victor Romão: You’re Not From Here
Victor Romão: You’re Not From Here
October 17, 2009 - January 10, 2010
AWE Gallery
Windsor artist Victor Romão’s drawings, woodblock prints and small-scale sculptures explore aspects of identity, the sense of belonging to a group, and the experience of those considered to be ‘outsiders’. Such issues are apparent in the culture of sports factions, gangs, and ways in which people sometimes view new or different members of society (such as immigrants) fearfully.
Partially informed by the artist’s experience growing up in rural Ontario, You’re Not From Here is an assembly of unsettling images of eerie, half-human figures set within autumnal landscapes or near abandoned, broken-down homes. Groups of male figures appear bat-headed or masked, hiding behind typical male posturing and uniformity of clothing. Such erosion of individuality leaves the men clustered into tightly-knit groups, emphasizing the idea of tribalism. While specific stories are not articulated, though with their stares, flexed muscles and clenched fists, Romão’s figures become studies in hostility.
This is Victor Romão’s second solo exhibition at the AGW. He is an MFA student at the University of Windsor School of Visual Art, and a regular exhibitor at Toronto galleries such as Open Space and Peak Gallery.
