Republic: Canadian Regionalism, Redefined
Angela Antle Mishta-shipu 2009
Canada’s regional tensions, though fraught in everyday political process, have spawned many an elegant, well-worn catchphrase. From Charles de Gaulle’s famous cry “Vive le Québec libre!” to the Reform Party slogan “The West wants in,” these sayings cement centuries of history, conflict and yearning into short, quotable phrases.
Now, it seems like some folks from the Rock would like to add “Accordion Revolution” and “Newfoundland Liberation Army” to the mix. At least, that’s what’s suggested by some popular T-shirts currently on exhibit as part of “Republic,” an excellent, thought-provoking show at the Rooms that examines Newfoundland identity—and, by extension, aspects of Canadian character—some 60 years after confederation.
Organized by Rooms curator Bruce Johnson, “Republic” incorporates elements both whimsical and weighty. Comics, T-shirts and satirical portraits provide doses of the former, while historical documents, archival newspapers and serious contemporary art take up the latter.
Admittedly—in what some might peg as a characteristically Newfoundland-ish style—grins and gravity do mix potently in many individual items.
Take, for example, Angela Antle’s wonderful Mishta-shipu, a neon sign that alternates a flashing pink “have” with a flashing green “not” in different combinations. It plays quite effectively on the way that provinces across Canada (and their residents) tend to identify themselves. But as recent history has shown, these labels can be more malleable than we think—last year, Newfoundland and Labrador, buoyed by new oil developments, became a “have” province for the first time, while former powerhouse Ontario sank to “have-not” status.
While Antle’s work is readable for people across Canada, it also holds a special aside for Newfoundland natives, pink, green and white being the colours of the former nation’s tricolour flag.
Other works in the exhibition amp up regional idioms and issues in compelling ways—despite, or perhaps because, of the way they privilege local experience.
Falling into this vein is John Haney’s Our Protector, which to most Canucks would resemble a church window. But the work is actually a modified moose rack, an item used by east-coast truckers as protection from the potential impact of moose-vehicle collisions, hundreds of which happen yearly on Newfoundland highways.
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John Haney Our Protector 2009 |
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