Here, Unending

The phrase more-than-human refers to the entire sentient world that encompasses humans. Popularized by ecologist and philosopher David Abrams, more-than-human recognizes that the natural world — including animals, plants, rivers, mountains, oceans and whole ecosystems — carry intelligence and agency. The phrase is intended to place human life in a subset within a larger world: it argues that humanity is embedded in and interdependent on the more-than-human. It is a phrase that encourages the humility to shed a human-centric perspective on the natural world. More-than-human insists that we are a part of an earthly universe that we humans did not create, that we do not control, and that exceeds our knowledge.

Here, Unending brings forth moments of sensual overwhelm when we lose ourselves in the sublime vastness of the more-than-human; when we meet the eyes of a wild animal and see ourselves reflected back; when driving into the Badlands of Alberta, where we see millions of years compacted in layers in the land; when a thousand poplar leaves shiver in the wind, dazzling our eyes and filling our ears with a magical woooshhhhhhh. Within the artwork, we see human spirits melding with trees, and stags becoming dream guardians. Glaciers and bovine skulls become ghostly presences, warning that their disappearances will be deeply felt. Viewers are encouraged to slow their rhythms and integrate the more-than-human into their sense of understanding of the world. Each work meditates on the web of interconnectedness within our ecosystems, reveling in the spiritual importance of living together and because of one another.

Bringing together a selection of artworks from the Alberta Foundation for the Arts Permanent Collection Here, Unending features work by Mark Arneson, Elizabeth Blair-Matisz, Bernard Bloom, Ronald Brown, Farron Callihoo, Miruna Dragan, Colin Ferguson, Roy Gunn, Tomoyo Ihaya, George Littlechild, Tyler Los-Jones, Jane Ash Poitras, Peter Ramos, Hilary Shannon, Margaret Shelton, Maureen Scott, Jill Stanton, and Sean Jena Taal.