The University of Lethbridge art gallery opened their new exhibit Thursday, Sept. 16 with Lebanese - Canadian, London, Ontario born artist Jamelie Hassan.
Hassan’s new survey exhibition, ”At the Far Edge of Words,” features a variety of different mediums including a woodcut, calligraphy, black and white photographs, found objects including a sign from a Chinese restaurant in London which closed after being robbed, neon and colour photographs and neon letters plus multi-
media.
“For this exhibition, I wanted to show the very first pieces I did in the medium,” she said, explaining the exhibit of her Chinese restaurant sign came about after the owners of the restaurant gave her their sign, and it revealed another, older sign of marble from an older Chinese restaurant, of which she has a piece posted on the wall as part of the exhibit.
“Pretty much every town in Canada has a Chinese restaurant. I used to eat there and the owners gave me their hand painted sign, but when we took it down, there was another, older sign made of marble, ” she said adding the government looks at Lebanese people from an immigration perspective labeled Asians including Chinese, Japanese and Mid-Eastern people.
“So we share that experience. And I’ve done a lot of research into that,” she said adding her art is inspired by how world events affect her emotionally and physically.
“These are pivotal works which students and teachers can use,” she said.
Several of the pieces feature photographs of an ancient Arabic book, which a artist friend gave to her.
“I haven’t had any scholars look at the pages to interpret them,” she continued pointing out an angel drawing on one of the pages looks very similar to one of the Farsi letters she created out of neon and put on the opposite page of one of her pieces. She was more interested in the fact that the 20 page manuscript shows wear where the reader held it too close to the candle it was being read by.
Another particularly moving exhibit is the bombed out remnants of a Beiruit , Lebanon artists collective, which she helped form.
She took the photos in 1979, during her travels, in the middle of Lebanon’s war with Israel.
She also has watercolours of things in her artistic experience, including a stool, newspapers and a watercolour rendition of a child’s arm poking out of a pile of rubble, for which she used as a photo from a newspaper.
“These are my direct response to things in my experience,” she continued adding while she was born in Canada, she has kept her roots close to her through extensive travel and research.
“I’m influenced by the history and philosphy of that part of the land,” she continued.
The exhibit opened today (Sept. 16) at 4 p.m., but she will be on campus Friday to give a talk before catching an early flight back to London.
The exhibit has also been exhibited at the university of British Columbia, and in London, Carleton in Ottawa and at the Mendel Art Gallery in Saskatoon.
the exhibit is in Lethbridge until Oct. 29.
— By Richard Amery, L.A. Beat Editor
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