Two exhibitions join forces inside the Mennonite Heritage Centre Gallery at Canadian Mennonite University to address the challenge, grief and resilience of the climate crisis conversation.
“Wild Beauty at Risk” by Karen Cornelius and “Through the Layers of Time” by Yvette Cuthbert and Eveline Mangin Mauws combine for Climate Communion, a study of different forest landscapes from around the world that speak to the destruction that they face from man-made activity, but also the resilience found in their beauty.
“I’ve always thought that it has kind of a sacred feeling about it,” says MHC Gallery curator Sarah Hodges-Kolisnyk about the landscape genre of art and the nature of Climate Communion.
“Communion is very important in that because artists are bringing together many spirits when they go out into the landscape. They’re bringing together their human spirit, but also the many, many more than human spirits in this kind of communion. And then, they’re entering into communion with the viewer. They come in and see the art and experience the transformative power of art.”
The spirits of the forest grab the viewer right away when one walks into the MHC Gallery. In front of them is a “ghost forest” - a collection of cloths strung on the gallery’s wooden beams that a viewer can walk through while listening to the sounds of the rain forest. This creation is part of Cornelius’ “Wild Beauty at Risk” and is meant to be a reminder of the fragile nature of the forests under threat all over the world.
“I wanted to create an experience where you would be reminded about that,” says Cornelius, who was captivated by forests since her childhood growing up in rainforests of central Africa, “but as humans, we get overwhelmed by the dire consequences of things that are happening. So, I wanted to focus on the beauty and the wonder, and I wanted you to be able to walk into this rainforest and experience the wonder of the rainforest.”
Wonder is in short supply as you ascend to the gallery’s second floor, where you are immediately arrested by the abstract, almost apocalyptic forest images of Mangin Mauws. Rather than directly render a forest in “Through the Layers of Time”, she chose to evoke the feelings associated with the climate crisis.
“I started with the feeling of what does it feel like to have the forest burning and looking at it and seeing the destruction,” says Mangin Mauws. “What I was doing is basically looking at it and thinking to myself, ‘How do I portray the heat’?”
Mangin Mauws hopes that by feeling the heat coming off the page, people can continue to learn about nature and became better stewards of it. “I think that’s the most I can do. I can’t force people to learn. I can’t force people to look. But I’m hoping that they will.”
People receive something of a relief as they continue to the other side of the second floor to see Yvette Cuthbert’s contribution to “Through the Layers of Time”. Originally from Squamish, British Columbia, Cuthbert’s detailed renderings of the Pacific Northwest rainforests are a celebratory approach to the same goal that Mangin Mauws has to educate people about the importance of stewarding our local ecosystems.
“It’s really important to mindful of what we have and appreciative of what we have,” says Cuthbert. “Nature’s been amazing to us.”
Climate Communion is on display at the Mennonite Heritage Centre Gallery until July 5. Hours and more information are available at the gallery’s website.
