Rememory (2021)
Lauren Brevner and James Harry
Printed with Epson archival inks on Epson cold press bright, textured matte paper
Signed, numbered and dated with a written note of authenticity
Paper size: 17.75 x 24 inches Print size: 15.75 x 22 inches
Unframed
The limited edition print is produced by Lauren Brevner and James Harry and printed by Tricera Print. It was produced on the occasion of the exhibition Vancouver Special: Disorientations and Echo organized by the Vancouver Art Gallery and curated by Guest Curators Phanuel Antwi, Jeneen Frei Njootli, Jenn Jackson and Christian Vistan with Grant Arnold, Audain Curator of British Columbia Art on view May 29, 2021 - January 3, 2022.
About the Artwork
"...For Disorientations and Echo, Brevner and Harry were commissioned to create an engulfing two-storey mural, which came to be named Rememory (2021). Drawing from Japense textiles and Indigenous weaving histories, individually familiar to each artist, they endeavored to blanket the Gallery with a warm matriarchal presence... While acknowledging their individual histories and embodied knowledges, Brevner and Harry explore familial relations, stories of belonging and mutual healing. They consider the intersections of their backgrounds as a place for dreaming and weaving transformations and move forward in a good way. Rememory offered a safe place for reflection to ask the pressing questions of what it means to animate such memories and connections through form into social, psychic and philosophical space."
- Jenn Jackson, curator for Vancouver Special: Disorientations and Echo
Artist Bios
Lauren Brevner is a multidisciplinary artist based in Vancouver B.C on the unceded territories of the Coast Salish Peoples, including the territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.
Her Japanese-Trinidadian heritage deeply inspires her practice with a focus on matriarchal influence. Her work combines traditional approaches to portrait painting with themes of cultural identity and female representation. Her education has been nurtured through community relations, including a mentorship with artist and designer Sin Nakayamal in Osaka, Japan, expanding her approach to perseverance and creative purpose. Her work has been featured across multiple platforms, including exhibitions, civic projects, and print publications. Recent projects include illustrations for National Geographic and Lush Cosmetics, group exhibitions both locally and internationally, and large-scale mural commissions around the lower mainland.
James (Nexw’Kalus-Xwalacktun) Harry was born October 31, 1989 in Vancouver, British Columbia. He is of Squamish Nation (Swxwú7meshḵ) and European decent (Scottish, and German). James spent much of his childhood and early adolescence immersed in art. For the last decade, James has worked in different school districts, the City of Vancouver and non-profit agencies to produce community based art projects reflecting Canadian heritage, culture, and ideologies.
At the same time, James has been investing in his art business, developing an individualized focus on ways of integrating the traditional with the contemporary. His current focus is three fold: using metal, light and traditional formline to create totems and other contemporary works, carving yellow and red cedar in traditional and abstract works, often larger than life, and working collaboratively with Lauren Brevner to create innovative carving/painting works that reflect First Nations stories while making a statement about the search for identity and wholeness.