Deanna Bowen, the artist, says that the work came from “a place of self-recovery.
Soon, a huge new piece of art about the lives of Black settlers in Canada will be put on display in front of the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa.
On Monday, workers will start putting up the two-story mural, which will cover the entire length of the windows on the side of the gallery that faces Major’s Hill Park.
Deanna Bowen is an artist who lives and works in Montreal.After Cooke, the Black Canadians, a reference to an article written by Britton B. Cooke in 1911 for Maclean’s magazine that argued against Black people moving to Canada from the United States.
In an interview with CBC, Bowen said of her art piece, “I call it the blackest, blackest black thing they’ve ever seen.”Ottawa Morning.
Bowen said that the images, which show her family’s history and life as Black Canadians, are set against a “sea of black.”
She said, “I wanted to make something you couldn’t just walk by and something that would start a conversation.” “In that way, the scale helps.”
Bowen said that the pictures are spread out over 17 panels and show things like her great-great-grandfather’s census records and famous people from history like Queen Victoria and William Lyon Mackenzie King.
Artist says work will make people feel things
The art piece talks about things like the end of slavery and the killing of Canada’s Indigenous people.
Bowen said, “It really began with me getting better on my own.” “I was dealing with the trauma of my family’s past and just trying to stay alive.”
Bowen said that she has worked on projects with similar themes before, so she knows “what buttons it’s going to push.”
But for her, a lively conversation is a good thing.
“The things in the book are things that Canadians usually try to avoid,” Bowen said. “The project was meant to make people talk, so let’s talk about it.”
Installation of After Cooke, the Black CanadiansIs supposed to be done on July 15, if the weather cooperates.
It will stay there until fall 2024.