Artist:
Based on faded imagery and fragments of text, this project utilizes exposure and colour balance manipulation to explore the imaginative possibilities of arctic research. Jenny Gilbertson (the artist's namesake) was a documentary filmmaker who began her career in the early 1920s in the remote Shetland Islands of Scotland. In the late 1960s, after producing and directing dozens of films (the archives of which were stored in a chicken coop) and raising a family, Jenny re-located to northern Manitoba. In her 70s and 80s she lived and worked in several arctic communities, documenting the changes brought about by more contact with the south, participating in community celebrations and more.
Though Jenny was prolific and energetic throughout her life, only fragments of her practice exist today. One film "Walrus Hunt", is in the NFB archives, while many others have disappeared from view. Much of the information I have about her work comes from personal correspondence she wrote to me as a child, detailing her travels and efforts to fund, edit and distribute her films. My curiosity lies in these gaps - particularly Jenny's Arctic Year - a film which is described as chronicling 12 months in the life of the settlement where she came to live.
Description:
Jennifer McVeigh is artist and writer living in Calgary. She has been a regular contributor to the visual art sections of the Calgary Herald and FFWD Magazine, in addition to national publications including Canadian Art. In 2006, she completed an MA in Visual Culture at the University of Westminster in London, England where her research centred on linguistic analysis of written texts used in museum exhibits.
Recent projects include On the Road Again - a community-based collaboration with artist Tomas Jonsson in which a procession of second-hand furniture was used to commemorate Calgary's rapid urban growth. She has edited a 25th anniversary publication for TRUCK artist-run centre and is currently serving on the programming committee for Emmedia Gallery and Production Society.
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