In Sigwan on the Kichi Zibi (2024), Latour depicts early spring (sigwan) on the Ottawa River as ice breaks up at the shoreline’s edge. The ice blocks pile up in the foreground, forming a large mass separating the viewer from the water beyond. As with many of the art works in Edge Conditions / Inawendiwin (Algonquin for relationship) the horizon line is a way to connect them as an ensemble speaking to notions of settlement along shorelines, human or non-human, and the species we share space with. In Latour’s, a dramatic sky with dark storm clouds looms, but the sun’s glow also makes an appearance, radiating on the surface of the water and providing luminosity to the ice. Taken from the Quebec side close to Alymer, power towers are barely perceptible above the shoreline on the Ottawa side, connecting to another theme of the exhibition: evidence of human settlement within the landscape and what this means with regard to the traces we leave and the impact we make.

Read full article on Ottawa Life Magazine.

Above Image: Edge Conditions exhibition at Âjagemô Exhibiton Space, Brandon Clarida
Below Image: Sigwan on the Kichi Zibi (2024), Claude Latour