Breaking the Vault: Art and Poetic Liberty
Installation view of Breaking the Vault: Art and Poetic Liberty, Art Gallery of Hamilton, 2021. Photo: Robert McNair.
Featured in the Art Gallery of Hamilton, “Breaking the Vault” introduces fresh perspectives on the gallery’s vaulted collections.
I felt small entering Breaking the Vault. Not because of its expanse, but because the space covers worlds.
Installation view of Breaking the Vault: Art and Poetic Liberty, Art Gallery of Hamilton, 2021. Photo: Robert McNair.
As with any exhibition, my attention was instantly seized by the images on the walls, stealing me away to the mind of each artist. Tim Whiten, Catherine Gibbon, Daniel Fowler, et cetera. However, the portals though which I was transported were impure – tainted by my own experiences, biases, and understandings.
But take a closer look. The walls next to the images bear the scribings of new worlds. Poems by 9 young talents interpret the vaulted works through unique perspectives. In reading each piece, my understanding of the images are molded, carved and reshaped until I’m in an entirely new space. These spaces are built on the experiences of each author. Gizy, Remiel, Amani, Jaidyn, Maeve, Paulo, Tanya, Kaitlyn and Eddie. How did Gizy see “Will no one help the poor widow’s son?” by Attila Richard Lukacs? What world did his experience generate? What does “Naranja Quemade” mean to a young Black Muslim woman from Hamilton? Here lies the beauty of Breaking the Vault – perspectives are shifted, and new worlds are formed, shared and experienced.
Image provided by the Art Gallery of Hamilton.
The masters of these domains were approached by the AGH through their work in a collective known as the Hamilton Youth Poets (HYP). HYP is a community organization that supports the creative talent of young poets in the city. To create Breaking the Vault, these 9 poets were given free rein to pillage the vaults of the AGH. Each poet selected artwork that spoke to them in one way or another. Some pieces resonated with a memory, a universal emotion, or reflected our times.
Jaidyn Fenton provides us with a vivid vision of the countryside in her interpretation of “The Cedars’ Farm” by Daniel Fowler. Halfway through her poem I found myself trapped in Fowler’s setting, but the marigolds, petunias and lantanas were entirely Jaidyn’s.
Gizy employs William Kurelek’s “This is the Nemesis” to tell his story. Kurelek’s destruction of Hamilton reflects the chaos of Gizy’s experience and loss of innocence. His transition from being “just another boy from Beasley” to being “out here rolling Splizzies” is perfectly captured in the connection between his gripping poem and the pandemonic painting.
Installation view of Breaking the Vault: Art and Poetic Liberty, Art Gallery of Hamilton, 2021. Photo: Robert McNair.
Amani Omar arrests viewers with the fierce gaze(s) of Alfred Pellan’s “Evasion”. She warns that any sideways looks are promised a piercing stare – one that challenges haters to look inwards first before projecting. Amani’s world is one where the dreamers are celebrated and the stone casters are rejected.
Keep travelling through space. Don Don will take you to a dystopian Mars dreamed up by those who scorched this Earth. Maeve Jenkinson takes you on a dark, sorrowing ride atop “Lucky, Lucky, Lucky” by Tim Whiten. Kaitlyn Tolch drops us into a woeful void, with only the window of “Cathexis #3” by Paul Kipps to gaze through. Tanya Pineda smashes dishes and reimagines the tools of domestic labour in her radical redefinition of femininity. Paulo Leon uses “Untitled” by Jean-Paul Riopelle as a representation of puzzled thoughts and uncertainty on one’s place in this entropic world.
Installation view of Breaking the Vault: Art and Poetic Liberty, Art Gallery of Hamilton, 2021. Photo: Robert McNair.
Moving into the final room, I was immediately overcome with a heavy stillness. The lights were slightly dimmed, and one work of art occupied the space. Filled the space. A universe unto itself. The longer I gaped at the chaotic “Struggle for Balance” by Kent Monkman, the more I realized I’d overlooked some detail in my first appreciation. Eddie Lartey’s take on the piece fashions this chaos into a mirror – reflecting the state of a society that comes down with vicious force onto the backs of its Black members. Eddie’s work masterfully engages the reader with this Black experience by moving from the broad to the individual. As I read the poem and return to the painting, discovering another detail I’d overlooked, I’m reminded of each person that has been lost and forgotten in this cruel cycle. As Eddie best places it, are we “Destined to fade into the background”?
Turning away from Eddie’s work, I my review travels across each room. I get a chance to reflect on not only the sheer volume of work these brilliant artists have produced, but also the magnitude of what they’ve done. They did raid the vault and re-release this artwork into the world, but they also reflected their own beautiful light through them as well.
Installation view of Breaking the Vault: Art and Poetic Liberty, Art Gallery of Hamilton, 2021. Photo: Robert McNair.
