School of Art

Andrea Oliver Roberts: Sickroom

January 5 to May 6, 2022 | Curated by Blair Fornwald

Andrea Oliver Roberts’ Sickroom is a sound and sculpture-based installation bringing together ideas about healing and protection, property and bodily autonomy, care and control. Taking formal cues from garden architecture, the artist has crafted sculptures that resemble wrought iron gates, trellises, and a  domed gazebo, as well as miniaturized forms that recall amulets or talismans. Potent words and phrases related to health and illness are arranged to form decorative pattern work: an iron garden gate, for instance, offers both CURES and a CURSE to the reader who can decipher its incantations. Another heavily abstracted design reveals the word DIAGNOSIS in the grillwork of a filigreed metal screen, fence, or room divider – fittingly, both are thresholds that must be passed in order to respectively treat or retreat. Mere suggestions of walls and ceilings, these garden structures indicate that a little piece of nature has been tamed, but offer little to no shelter or protection from the elements. And they offer security from trespassers only if tacitly-agreed upon notions of property ownership and privacy are upheld. Drawing on personal experiences of navigating and accessing support as a person with chronic illness, Roberts’ installation reveals the magical thinking that reinforces the permeable, indistinct, and ultimately temporary boundaries between chaos and order, between sickness and health, and between what is yours, what is mine, what is shared, and what can never be owned. 

Andrea Oliver Roberts is a Winnipeg-based, multidisciplinary artist known for sculptural installations and sound works that contend with loss, technology, gender, and language within capitalism.  Roberts has shown at galleries internationally and composes and performs the solo experimental sound project under the name VOR. They hold an M.F.A. in Sculpture from California College of the Arts, and an Honours B.F.A. in Sculpture from the University of Manitoba.

The artist gratefully acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Manitoba Arts Council.

A dimly lit gallery with multiple sculptures and installations arranged throughout the space. The artworks include wooden structures, metal gates with cut-out text, and wall-mounted pieces that cast shadows.
A metal gate sculpture, mounted on a wooden frame, casts a strong shadow on the gallery wall. A green bottle is placed on top of the gate.
A small red plastic text sculpture is mounted on the gallery wall, projecting shadows that extend outward in a V-shape. The text is densely layered, creating depth.
A person stands inside the wooden gazebo-like installation, facing a lit wall-mounted piece. Green lighting elements cast a subtle glow on the floor.
A small metal gate with words arranged in an overlapping pattern, mounted on a clear acrylic pedestal. The black metal has a glossy finish, reflecting the light.
A clear acrylic wall-mounted sculpture with intricate layered patterns, resembling architectural elements. The transparency of the material interacts with the gallery lighting.
A black metal gate with intricate geometric cut-out patterns stands on a wooden platform. The gate casts a complex shadow on the floor, emphasizing its detailed design.
A large octagonal wooden frame resembling a gazebo stands in the gallery, with green tubes hanging from its ceiling. A small pedestal with a black metal text sculpture is positioned in front of it

Photo Documentation by Karen Asher

Events:

Workshop: Anti-Capitalist Peer-to-Peer Health – The Hologram (April 30, 2022)
1:00-5:00 pm CDT
Online. Facilitated on Zoom.

Hologram developer Cassie Thornton and co-facilitator Tina Munroe will teach participants how to give and receive care using a peer-to-peer health model developed collaboratively over two years of lockdown. This model creates sustainable long-term caring relationships, where all caretakers are also cared for. More resources available at thehologram.xyz.

Performance: Liturgies for Chiron (May 5, 2022)
Andrea Oliver Roberts and Anju Singh
7:00 pm
Main Gallery, School of Art Gallery

Featuring electronics (Roberts), drones, and strings (Singh), Liturgies for Chiron explores themes of repetition in work and worship, drawing on Greek mythology and astronomy. Anju Singh is a multidisciplinary artist and musician based in the unceded and traditional territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.

Exhibition Tours (Postponed)
Meet in the gallery lobby for an informative exhibition tour led by Gallery staff.