BONAVISTA PENINSULA.- Bonavista Biennale, a bi-annual month-long art event, adopts contemporary artwork as a lens to interpret the historical structures and cultural exchanges of the Northeast Atlantic coastline. Taking place August 17 - September 15, Bonavista Biennale 2019 — FLOE highlights the works of 21 leading Canadian, Indigenous, and international artists through a multi-site art experience across the Bonavista Peninsula’s coastal landscape. The sites of the Biennale trace the migratory and trade routes that connected North America to Europe — Ktaqmkuk, the Mi’kmaq word for Newfoundland, is traditional unceded Mi’kmaw territory, and FLOE (re)considers this history and the obscuring of cultures by systems of colonialism.

Artworks examine the relationships among the architecture of heritage buildings, dis-used community and commercial spaces, and the cultural structures that shape the outport communities. Participating artists are designing sculptural forms, repurposing existing spaces, and creating site-specific installations that offer commentary on the transporting of ideas, culture, and artifacts.

Viewers are encouraged to plan their own journey through the 100-kilometre loop, using a downloadable exhibition map as a guide to explore the sites and outport communities.

Select Artworks

Jordan Bennett
Jordan Bennett, 2018 Sobey Art Award shortlist nominee, uses painting, sculpture, installation, and sound to explore land, language, the act of visiting and to challenge colonial perceptions of Indigenous histories. He will be painting a mural on the side of a former high school (which is now being converted to a wellness centre), visually expressing the Mi’kmaq and Beothuk cultures of Ktaqamkuk.

Ian Carr Harris & Yvonne Lammerich
Ian Carr-Harris and Yvonne Lammerich will create wooden models together that collapse time and space. Their two artworks navigate the waters between history, memory, and perception by exploring iconic symbols of exploration, trade, settlement, and identity.

Anna Hepler
Anna Hepler builds sculptures as a means to disrupt conventional form, using graphic gestures to blur shapes and materials. Her site-specific installation uses repurposed cardboard in the shape of a whale’s ribcage and latticed like a boat hull as a commentary on the role of water in connecting Atlantic communities.

Robert Hengeveld
Robert Hengeveld is an installation and media artist dedicated to exploring the boundaries between reality and fiction by manipulating familiar environments or common experiences. His artwork represent the ghost of an unused heritage house, using a scale steel outline of a house treated with iridescent paint. The work will move to different sites on the Peninsula throughout the Biennale.