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One of the most indelible marks of living in a prairie city is the beauty of the sky. In Winnipeg’s case, the unique architecture that punctuates the horizon is an added beauty that is captured in a new exhibit called Under Winnipeg Sky, on display at Warehouse Artworks in the Exchange District.
For artist Elena El, the skyline was one of the first things she noticed when she came to Winnipeg nearly two decades ago from Odessa, Ukraine after completing her studies in Haifa, Israel. “When I came here, I knew almost nothing about the city,” she recalls. “I was so surprised by the beauty I saw around me. It’s all these rivers and architecture and parks and all that. I couldn’t wait to share it with other people because it was so impressive.”
One of the most impressive qualities of Winnipeg’s skylines to El was its diversity from one part of Winnipeg to the next. “We have so many different neighbourhoods, and each neighbourhood has their own character,” she says. “You go to Wolseley; you see these tall trees and all these houses with different colours. You go to the Exchange District; you see a completely different architecture. You go to the suburbs; it’s a different kind of landscape.”
By capturing the various skylines and sights in the city in the eighteen different pieces that make up Under Winnipeg Sky, El hopes that Winnipeggers take more pride in their community as a whole and see the beauty in parts of the city they may never have visited before. “We are very busy in our day-to-day life, and we don’t have much time to stop and look around,” she explains. “When I see something, I want to capture it so the viewer, when they see my artwork, they stop for a moment and they think, ‘Yeah, I am familiar with this place. I have memories attached to this place.’”
“People complain about Winnipeg all the time,” she continues. “We all know our stories, but there [is] so much positive, and I’m trying to focus on a positive thing.”
Under Winnipeg Sky is on display at Warehouse Artworks on McDermott Avenue until September 30. Hours and more information are available at the gallery’s website.