Glenn Gear

Description of the exhibition

Breaking the ice is also opening a portal between what lives above and below the water’s surface. A hole in the ice can be a pathway to subsistence—through fishing—or, in turn, an opening to the sky for aquatic creatures. It opens a connection between different environments and the living things that inhabit them.

Installed on either side of the gallery, two air holes—two portals—invite us to explore another dimension. In them, we see digital projections of Glenn Gear’s material-based practice: beading and working with ethically sourced sealskin, which he offers as a cultural gift. Evoking the configuration of a snowflake, like kaleidoscopes they become animated, a contemplative offering amplified by the sound of waves crashing on a shore in Newfoundland.

Formations based on Inuit star maps cover the walls between these two projections, along with geometric designs inspired by traditional tattoos. This space contains a network of connections: between water and ice, between the sky and the seabed, and between the body’s cultural practices and subsistence and the land that welcomes and nourishes it.

Artist biography

Glenn Gear

(Born in Corner Brook, Newfoundland, Canada – Lives in Tiohtiá:ke, Mooniyang [Montréal], Québec, Canada)

Glenn Gear is an Indigiqueer filmmaker and multidisciplinary artist of mixed Inuit heritage with family throughout Newfoundland and Nunatsiavut. His practice is grounded in research-creation shaped by Inuit and Indigenous ways of knowing, and he often employs animation, photo archives, painting, beading, and traditional materials such as sealskin. His work has been presented at the Winnipeg Art Gallery–Qaumajuq, the Bonavista Biennial, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, and the Ociciwan Contemporary Art Centre.

Practical information

La Bande Vidéo – Gallery

541 Saint-Vallier Street East
Quebec City (QC), Canada

Visitor information

• Access: close to downtown, Saint-Roch neighborhood RTC transportation: lines 18, 19, 86, Métrobus 801 / Saint-Vallier East stops
• Parking: adjacent streets (limited), public parking nearby
• Accessibility: indoor gallery, accessible according to local standards