As Annette Hegel’s installation of Now You See Me came down in December the bunker began preparing for the selection process for our next featured Artist-in-Residence. Application outlines were posted early November and accepted up until the end of December.
Over the course of January our selection panel examined each application and assessed their compatibility with the bunker and our program. Our selection panel had a challenging job choosing from many interesting and wonderful submissions and has finally come to a decision.
It is our privilege to announce that Carol Wainio has been selected as our 2019 Artist-in-Residence.
Carol’s work draws together diverse references to investigate and re-stage older visual narratives of transformation and desire, scarcity and excess, often, though not exclusively, drawn from early European fairy tale.
“My work has explored various forms of vernacular and popular imagery in the context of history and narrative, including archival research in historical fairy tale illustration. Fairy tale characters and narratives were also used in the 19th century to sell products and in popular political commentary and imagery. Some of these pre-modern tales seem increasingly relevant as metaphors for migration, certain political issues, or in the context of post Cold War, contemporary forms of possible catastrophe (environmental, economic).”
Carol is currently a professor at The University of Ottawa in the Visual Arts Department. She has been featured in galleries across Canada and the world. Her work has been shown at the the National Gallery of Canada, the Glenbow Museum, Musées des beaux arts de montréal, and the Art Gallery of Ontario, as well as several international galleries.
“I plan to explore the cultural aspect of cold war fears in terms of their expression whether through posters, popular imagery, and other artifacts, with a view to finding whether there were similar echoes or uses of fairy tale or cautionary tale.”
Carol will begin research for her 2019 Artist in Residency in February with her work culminating in a site-specific exhibition later this year. Congratulations Carol, we’re excited to see what you create!