Heidi McKenzie: Imaging and Imagining the Inhertiance of Colonialism by Debra Sloan

Heidi McKenzie is a Canadian, and a finecraft ceramic artist of Indo-Trinidadian and Scots-Irish descent. During the last decade, McKenzie has been producing ceramic sculptures engaged with issues concerning systemic racial inequality. Through the lens of her familial encounter with indentureship, McKenzie encircles such specifics as the duality of bi-racial descent and the global consequences of colonialism. Her visual treatise urges the white community, to which I belong, to collectively recognize embedded racial privilege, and to work towards change. In the words of the american, Theastre Gates, whom McKenzie admires, “art and Protest are forms of political thought”.

Originally published in May/June 2021 issue No 3/21 of New Ceramics Monthly, pages 28-31 . .Copyright, New Ceramics, Berlin, Reprinted with permission. https://neue-keramik.de/wp/index.php/nc/current-issue/

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At Home and Elsewhere: Artists in Conversation, Surrey Art Gallery

Surrey, BC – Surrey Art Gallery is pleased to announce At Home and Elsewhere, an online panel discussion featuring artists who will speak about their work in the Gallery’s current exhibition, the themes of the exhibition, and also how the dynamics of the pandemic have shaped their practice—at home and in public. Their works variously address themes of diaspora, racism, communication, desire, pop culture, and more. The panel features a diverse roster of practicing contemporary artists: Sonny Assu, Heidi McKenzie, Helma Sawatzky, and Jan Wade. The conversation will be introduced and facilitated by Surrey Art Gallery Assistant Curator, Rhys Edwards.

This informal conversation was live streamed on November 14th, 2020 5pm EST.

Where We Have Been, Surrey Art Gallery

September 19 to December 4, 2020

Artists: Michael Abraham, Jim Adams, Sonny Assu, Sylvia Grace Borda, Karin Bubaš, Sarindar Dhaliwal, Lakshmi Gill, Ravi Gill, Jeremy Herndl, Doreen Jensen, Chris MacClure, Heidi McKenzie, Ulli Maibauer, Arnold Mikelson, Shani Mootoo, Ann Nelson, Fred Owen, Bill Rennie, Don Romanchuk, Adele Samphire, Nicolas Sassoon, Helma Sawatzky, Ranjan Sen, Jan Wade, Stella Weinert, Leslie Wells, Joanna S. Wilson

Above photo’s courtesy of Ying-Yueh Chuang

“Where We Have Been explores the interconnection between place and identity in the South of Fraser region, through selections from the Surrey Art Gallery’s permanent collection. In many cases, art acts as a record of the artist’s perception of the world around them, functioning to situate them within a place. This process is important for anyone attempting to establish an idea of home, whether they identify as Indigenous, migrant, settler, or otherwise.

However, in other instances, artworks complicate the relationship between home and identity. Artworks embody traditions, rituals, and memories, which act as binders to a past which may otherwise have been transformed or displaced during the movement into the present. Elsewhere, the artist finds themself in a non-place, documenting instead their alienation, or the failure to find security within their community.

During a moment when our relationship with space is highly fraught, Where We Have Been speaks to the ways in which artists shape our communities through the portrayal of suburban and natural environments around the South of the Fraser, as well as personal narratives and cultural histories.”

— Rhys Edwards, Curator, Assistant Curator Surrey Art Gallery

Best in Show: Latcham Gallery Annual Juried Exhibition

Juror, Peter Flannery, Assistant Curator at the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery confers my Best in Show Award to a full house of supporters, March 4, 2020.

And the winners are: (left to right) Gallery Curator, Alexandra Hartstone, Lo Scott (sculptor), Heidi McKenzie (sculptor), Peter Flannery (juror), Stephanie Porter (juror) …

Sharron Forrest with her ‘cutting edge’ work!

Making new connections with other exhibiting artists - Joanna Strong’s work is about her mixed-race children.

Heidi’s House of Cards

“House of Cards speaks to the precarious nature of my late father’s life as an immigrant from Trinidad who came to Canada in the early 1950’s and facing at times violent racism, while simultaneously serving as a metaphor for the fragility of his own human vessel and ongoing health struggles. It literally documents through archive the burdens of his story: imprinted with iron-oxide on porcelain ceramic substrate, this “house of cards” also references his passion for bridge, and his steadfast dedication to building a home for his family. ”

Friends from Pinetree - Sharon and Penny!

Circular Dimensions with Maya Foltyn @ Carnegie Gallery

It was an honour and a pleasure working with Maya Foltyn and her family on this dialogue between her paintings and drawings and my sculptural work - inspired from my time in Australia, in 2017, including works made at Medalta 2019 and newer works from my Parkdale kiln. Check out the complete series Spaces Within

We had an amazing crowd of over 60 people who came out and stayed and spent quality time talking to us and asking lots of questions - on the opening, Friday February 7th

“In 2017 I embarked on my “Spaces Within” series. This work reinvigorates modernism in our times, and engages issues of race and identity, seeking to transcend Eurocentricism. The hollow negative spaces represent a simultaneous sense of loss, renewal, and overall belonging.
— Heidi McKenzie”

About 30 souls came out for our Artist Walk-Through and Q & A at the Carnegie on February 23rd, 2020

Maya describing the use of bitchumen in her drawings during the Q&A

Heidi describing her experience of James Cook’s observation of “terra nullius” when he discovered Australia - negating the existence of Indigenous People’s - in the face of the evidence of abalone fish hooks found on the site.