Memories of the Sun
Anne Brochu Lambert, Sylvia Matas
curator: Sandee Moore
March 11 - April 30, 2023
Opening reception: Friday, March 10, 7 -9 PM
Sylvia Matas' artist talk: March 10, 12 - 1 PM, University of Regina/Zoom video conference
Conférence d’artiste avec Anne Brochu Lambert: profitez d’une tournée guidée en français, le mercredi, 15 mars, de 10h00-11h00, à la galerie Art Gallery of Regina. L’artiste abordera sa pratique à travers les oeuvres et l’installation interactive de l’exposition Memories of the Sun. Cet évènement est gratuit et se déroule en présentiel. Inscription non-requise.
In their respective art practices, Sylvia Matas and Anne Brochu Lambert visit far-off places through the lens of someone else's camera. Inverting the action of the stereotypical tourist — one endlessly snapping photos indistinguishable from countless others of the same scenic spot — the artists transform thrifted snapshots and online security camera feeds into serene emotional landscapes.
In her mixed media works on paper, Brochu Lambert obscures, reveals and annotates landmarks with digital and analog layers, replicating the process of memory to merge fact with feeling. The artist's interactive projection reinvents the vacation slideshow revealing her interventions on her source material (discarded amateur photographs of holiday spots) and inviting viewers to become part of the projection, further transforming these landscapes.
Matas' photographs, videos and bookworks describe a sentimental longing to be a wanderer elsewhere. The artist combs the internet for live-streamed footage from surveillance cameras, capturing and reframing the most absurd — a close-up view of leaves obscuring the lens or a parking lot in which nothing happens — as absurdly beautiful. In Reversal of Winds, Matas locates the improbable in the crumbling and deserted architecture of the everyday.
The exhibition title, Memories of the Sun, acknowledges the importance of photography to both artists' work and the camera's reliance on light to create an image while prompting consideration that photography and streaming video have replaced remembering and experiencing.
Artist's bios:
Sylvia Matas is an artist living on Treaty One Territory in Winnipeg. Her practice combines images and language resulting in videos, books, texts, and drawings. She received her MFA from the Chelsea College of Art in London, England.
Her work has been exhibited at the Art Museum at the University of Toronto, Gallery 44, YYZ Artist's Outlet, Mercer Union (Toronto), the Maclaren Art Centre (Barrie, ON), The Winnipeg Art Gallery, Plug In ICA (Winnipeg), Truck Contemporary Art (Calgary), and Útúrdúr (Reykjavik). Her videos have been screened at Smart Projects Space (Amsterdam), Harvestworks DMAC (New York), Helen Pitt Gallery (Vancouver), Gallery Homeland (Portland, OR), Eyelevel Gallery (Halifax).
Anne Brochu Lambert is a Regina-based artist. Her art practice focuses on drawing and painting through analog and digital techniques, incorporating collage, photography, printmaking, textile assemblage and multimedia art installation. Her visual language draws on symbolism and abstraction to explore the landscape as a motif in our complex relationship with our surroundings.
Originally from Lévis (QC), she has a diploma in the arts (DEC in Arts et Lettres), CEGEP Lévis-Lauzon QC) and has continued to enrich her practice by participating in residencies and professional workshops.
Brochu Lambert has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions and juried shows in Canada and the USA. Represented by Nouveau Gallery in Regina, her works have been acquired for private and public collections in Canada and the USA.
Thank You
Sylvia Matas and the Art Gallery of Regina acknowledge the generous support of the Manitoba Arts Council.
Anne Brochu Lambert recognizes the support of SK-Arts and the Conseil culturel fransaskois to produce artworks in the exhibition. She also wishes to thank her technician, David Stanchuk, for his invaluable assistance.
The Art Gallery of Regina gratefully acknowledges its core funders and community sponors.
Self-guided Tour Pamphlet
Exhibition Audio Tour
Exhibition Audio Tour Transcript
Conférence d’artiste avec Anne Brochu Lambert
Media Coverage
Moore, Sandee. Interview. Interview by Lisa Peters. Talk of the Town, Access 7 TV. February 27, 2023. Television.
Anne Brouchu Lambert. "La Art Gallery de Regina souligne le travail de deux artistes francophones." Interview by Raphaële Frigon. Le Telejournal Saskatchewan, Radio Canada. March 10, 2023. Television. [https://ici.radio-canada.ca/tele/le-telejournal-saskatchewan/site/segments/reportage/435559/moosejaw-warriors-whl-sanction-equipe]
Inglis, Lindsay. "Memories of the Sun: Two artists create unlikely armchair travel experiences for would-be tourists." GalleriesWest, March 31, 2023, https://www.gallerieswest.ca/magazine/stories/memories-of-the-sun/. Accessed April 25, 2023.