2022 Acquisitions: Purchases

Focused on the work of historical and contemporary artists who have contributed to the artistic life of the Ottawa-Gatineau region, our Permanent Collection is an essential part of the OAG’s activities. We are excited to look back and share a roundup of our 2022 purchases, and the ways in which these works help to enrich our Collection.

We’re thrilled to share that the OAG made three exciting purchases in 2022!

OAG purchased a Bright Oriental Star (2011), a video work by Ottawa-based interdisciplinary artist Rachel Kalpana James, with the support of the Elizabeth L. Gordon Art Program, a program of the Gordon Foundation and administered by the Ontario Arts Foundation. Examining the Indian poet and activist Rabindranath Tagore’s visit to Canada in 1929, and its subsequent influence on Canadian art and culture, James’s video work also explores links to the Group of Seven and questions of erasure. The piece was also previously displayed in the OAG’s inaugural exhibition, and is the first work by James to enter OAG’s collection.

With the generous support of the Stonecroft Foundation, and OAG Board Member and Acquisitions and Collections Committee Chair, Barry Fong Barry Fong and family, we also completed the purchase of Blanket 03 (2022), a textile work of embroidery on synthetic roofing felt by Anishinaabe and French artist Caroline Monnet. From her blanket series, in which the artist prints computer designs likened to those created by the typically Algonquin birchbark biting technique onto construction materials, evoking warmth, comfort, and safety, as well as the housing crisis many Indigenous communities continue to face, this piece is the first work by Monnet to join the OAG’s collection.

Finally, OAG was also pleased to purchase Une parcelle de moi A Glimpse of Me by artists Tiphaine Girault and Paula Bath. Displayed in the OAG’s 2020 exhibition 리듬풍경 Rhythmscape, this multimedia theatre performance and installation offers a unique understanding of the experience of immigrants to Canada from international Deaf communities and highlights diverse linguistic strategies. Performed by three people: Peter Owusu-Ansah, Ali Saeedi and Tiphaine Girault, who grew up in Ghana, Iran and France respectively, the piece uses a cascade of overlapping language, to weave together the stories of their joys and sorrows, successes and failures, and varying paths as immigrants with disabilities.