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Esker Foundation Gallery
Object Lessons
Object Lessons
in the Project Lab Space at Esker Foundation Gallery
February 3 - August 9, 2020
Calgary, Alberta
Bateman Foundation Gallery
Ghost Nets
Ghost Nets
in Castaways at the Bateman Foundation Gallery
March 6 - June 5, 2020
Victoria, BC
Object Lessons at Esker Foundation Gallery
Anna Gustafson
Artist enshrouds single-use plastics and small appliances to grieve ecological losses due to unbridled consumerism.
by Portia Priegert
Sheathing objects in white fabric evokes a range of metaphorical impulses. To hide, to erase and to protect are a few that immediately come to mind.
But when the objects thus enshrouded are some of the domestic sphere’s most mundane and disposable – plastic milk jugs, kitchen appliances or garden tools – they become a cunningly understated critique of consumerism.
Artist Anna Gustafson, who lives on Salt Spring Island off the British Columbia coast, has put much of her energy into this project over the last five years, carefully hand-stitching linen casings from salvaged fabric, including sheets, table cloths and even dish towels.
She's reluctant to discuss how many objects she’s enshrouded with this obsessive labour – but admits to…