Richmond BC, Canada #richmondartgallerybc
This exhibition brings together a selection of works by five women artists from Richmond Art Gallery’s Permanent and Didactic Collections, each offering a distinct lens through which themes of identity, heritage, and lived experience are explored. Pnina Granirer, Polly Faminow, Cynthia Nugent, Catherine Perehudoff, and Geraldine Santiago invite us to reflect on the complexities of femininity, cultural history, and personal expression faced by women.
The Canadian landscape painter of Doukhobor descent, Catherine Perehudoff, turned to portraiture in the 1990s to depict five Doukhobor women. Though they lived by the creed “Toil and Peaceful Life,” this pacifist community of Russian origin, based in the Kootenays around Castlegar, suffered through residential schools, among other indignities. Perehudoff’s tender portraits show the women surrounded by everyday objects that offer clues as to their individual characters.
Pnina Granirer’s work in the 1960s challenged the gender roles and cultural narratives surrounding women in the Book of Genesis, merging personal and universal themes that resonate across generations. In these delicate prints from the 1980s, she focuses on the tenderness of friendship and strength in womanhood.
Geraldine Santiago, a Filipina-Canadian artist, paints for herself first, showcasing her optimism through vibrant colours. “My emotions resonate with each painting as I engage with my inner self, taking time to engage with my inner self meticulously and expressing that in form.” She learned to paint in oil and acrylic in the Philippines alongside her sisters.
Artist, teacher, and acclaimed children’s book author and illustrator Cynthia Nugent was born in Toronto in 1954. Painted in acrylic, her self-portrait shows a woman in an artist’s apron gazing directly at the viewer. Nugent gives the viewer insight into how she represented herself in 1984: a whimsical working artist with an empathetic gaze.
Polly Faminow’s nuanced depiction of three women draws our attention to their clothing, gestures, and relationships to each other, despite their hidden faces. By focusing on the subtleties of their body language and positioning, Faminow conveys uneasy truths about the collective experiences of women.
– Maria Filipina Palad
The Gateway Theatre is located in 6500 Gilbert Road. Richmond BC, V7C 3V4. Phone: 604-270-1812
