Image in Relation | Artist Discussion

In conjunction with current exhibitions “Big’Uns” and “Diary of a e’pite’ji’j: hypervigilant love” we are hosting an artist discussion around the role of photograph in reclamation, preservation, and community collaboration.

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Artists Jude Benoit (St. John’s), Emily Critch (Corner Brook), Dayna Danger (Montreal), and Melissa Tremblett (Corner Brook) discuss their relationship to the camera: from in front of and behind the lens, these artists merge photography with sculpture, installation, craft, and community to create compelling portraits of individuals, objects, and environments. In four distinct manners these artists use the medium to navigate community and autonomy;

Header image details by artist, left to right: Melissa Tremblett, Dayna Danger, Jude Benoit, Emily Critch

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Jude Benoit is a Two-Spirit artist from the Kitpu clan. They have fought for rights and better support systems for the 2s/trans community for over a decade. They are also a fierce land and water warrior whose only words on reconciliation are “land back”. Their work has been fluid over the years (much like their gender), starting with poetry and spoken word when they were a teen, to then helping other queer youth perform and write their own stories by producing shows, open mics, and workshops. In their off time from being an artist, community organizer and downright badass you can find them working as a barista, reading tarot cards and ignoring their obvious burnout.

Emily Critch is an artist and curator with settler and Mi’kmaq ancestry from Corner Brook, Ktaqamkuk (Newfoundland). She received her BFA in Visual Arts from Grenfell Campus, Memorial University of Newfoundland (2018), and her art practice revolves around the anxieties surrounding the dimensions of preservation, loss, and care. Primarily using photographic printmaking, Emily considers how we care for our histories, kinships, and our relationships to place through storytelling and land. She has exhibited her work provincially and internationally at venues such as Grenfell Art Gallery, The Rooms, Eastern Edge, and Gatehouse Gallery in Harlow, England. Emily has recently participated in the inaugural Momus Emerging Critics Residency in partnership with Concordia University, and has completed residencies with the Corner Brook Museum and Archives and St. Michael’s Printshop. She has been the recipient of several awards, including a Professional Projects Grant from Arts NL, the Ellen Rusted Award for Print Media, the Reginald Shepherd and Helen Parsons Shepherd Award for individual artistic development.

Dayna Danger is a visual artist, organizer and drummer. Danger holds a MFA in Photography from Concordia University. Through utilizing the processes of photography, sculpture, performance and video, Danger creates works and environments that question the line between empowerment and objectification by claiming the space with their larger than life works. Ongoing works exploring BDSM and beaded leather fetish masks negotiate the complicated dynamics of sexuality, gender and power in a consensual and feminist manner. Danger has exhibited their work nationally and internationally in such venues as Art gallery of Alberta, Edmonton AB; Urban Shaman, Winnipeg, MB; Warren G Flowers Art Gallery, Montreal; dc3 Projects, Edmonton; Roundhouse, Vancouver; Art Mur, Berlin; and the New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe. Danger has participated in residencies at the Banff Centre for the Arts and at Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art. Danger currently serves as a board member of the Aboriginal Curatorial Collective (ACC/CCA). Danger is an Artist in Residence through Initiatives for Indigenous Futures at AbTeC. Danger is a 2Spirit, Métis – Anishinaabe(Saulteaux) – Polish, hard femme who was raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Treaty 1 territory, homeland of the Métis.

Melissa Tremblett is a visual artist of Innu and English heritage from the community of Sheshatshiu, Labrador, Canada. She is a multimedia artist currently working with photography, installation, and performance. She also practices customary techniques such as doll making and beadwork to explore identity, family, community, and transmission of knowledge. Melissa graduated with a BFA in Visual Arts and a BSc in Behavioural Neuroscience from Memorial University of Newfoundland. Her work has been exhibited internationally at venues such as Grenfell Art Gallery, The Rooms Provincial Art Gallery, Eastern Edge, and Gatehouse Arts in Harlow, UK. She has completed residencies with the Banff Centre, Grenfell Art Gallery in partnership with the Labrador Institute, and she is currently completing the Elbow Room Residency with The Rooms. She has recently been awarded the 2019 Emerging Artist of the Year from VANL-CARFAC, was longlisted for the prestigious 2019 Scotiabank New Generation Photography Award, and has received other accolades such as the 2018 Corner Brook Emerging Artist of the Year Award, Division of Fine Arts Mercy/Presentation Education Fund Award, and the Short Family Award through Memorial University of Newfoundland. Her work has been supported through the Professional Project Grant Program through the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council.