This exhibition features works by Edmonton-based artist Brenda Draney that delve into complex questions around the notion of intimacy. Sifting through images culled from her own personal archive and memory, Brenda Draney recalls figures and moments that have shaped her lived experiences. In her paintings, however, Draney leaves space for the viewer to reflect upon the images and the subject matter at hand. Brenda Draney’s artworks explore the relationship between how we make memories and how we build knowledge, by way of storytelling. Examining the ways in which narratives are not only formed and shaped by personal and shared events but also influenced by socially accepted and perpetuated constructs, her works invite us to constantly reconsider what we think we know, and how we come to know it.
Initiated, organized, and circulated by The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, Toronto. Supported by Sobey Art Foundation. This exhibition is made possible with the generous support of the Canada Council for the Arts.
Jacqueline Kok is the 2021–23 Nancy McCain & Bill Morneau Curatorial Fellow at The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, and the curator of Brenda Draney’s solo exhibition. Kok’s curatorial research pursues the political and social potentials of space through a deep exploration of the dialectical relationship among the bodies within it. Prior to joining The Power Plant, she held prominent roles including Curator at MO.CO. Montpellier Contemporain under the direction of Nicolas Bourriaud. She has also worked in the curatorial department at MoCA Taipei and ArtinGeneral as well as in the public programs department at e-flux. She has self-produced Art and Other Stories, a podcast under her curatorial collective, Triptych Arts, and Spaces of Exchange, a Zoom program uniting international Chinese artists in collaboration with the International Chinese Fine Arts Council.
