Genevieve Robertson

overburden (2021)

Overburden is a curatorial project that brings together a group of artists whose shared concerns address geology and its relationship to shifting climate patterns and resource extraction, in both regional and global contexts. Artists respond to mining histories in the Kootenay area, arctic ice melt that is uncovering paleontological data, mining reclamation practices, and glacial seismic events. While some artists bear witness to harmful extraction practices and an ever more unstable world, others seek to find caring, embodied, and imaginative ways to develop relationships with geologic materials. The title of the exhibition, Overburden, references topsoil and vegetation that are removed before mining takes place. It also references our planet’s current condition and the psychological burden that many experience in the face of climate and other ecological changes.

Overburden takes place at Oxygen Art Centre in Nelson BC and Kootenay Gallery of Art in Castlegar BC. The two-gallery group exhibition also features an online exhibition at www.overburden.ca, a weekend of programming including performances, artist talks and workshops, and a catalogue with exhibition essay available through the galleries and as a PDF on the website.

Overburden: Geology, Extraction, and Metamorphosis in a Chaotic Age
Group Exhibition + Symposium
Oxygen Art Centre: 1 June – 10 July 2021
Kootenay Gallery of Art: 18 June – 21 August 2021
Symposium: 19 + 20 June 2021 (online)
Artists: Gabriela Escobar Ari, Asinnajaq, Patti Bailey qʷn̓qʷin̓x̌n̓, Randy Lee Cutler, Darren Fleet, Jim Holyoak, Tsēmā Igharas, Keith Langergraber, Sarah Nance, Tara Nicholson, Carol Wallace
Co-curated by Genevieve Robertson + Maggie Shirley
Co-presented by Oxygen Art Centre + Kootenay Gallery of Art

Generously supported by the Columbia Kootenay Cultural Alliance and Canada Council for the Arts.