VICTORIA, BC.- The first exhibition of 2015 at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria considers the use of language in English and in Spanish. Definiciones (Definitions) opened in the LAB Gallery on Jan. 16 with the text based work of Mexican-born and raised artist Carlos Colín, who now resides in Vancouver.

The exhibition explores the impact, limits, and ruptures of language in our everyday lives, and the ways language shapes our thinking about life, social structures, race, culture, geography, politics, and art.

Definiciones (Definitions) is paired with the exhibition In Another Place, and Here, opening at the AGGV on Jan. 24, which uses photography to investigate the relationships between self and place.

“As a Mexican artist working in a Canadian context, this project presents a series of definitions in English and Spanish to see how these definitions generate thought around human rights by questioning what a democracy means, or a society means, and how we can reclaim language that is often inherently colonial,” says Colín.

“My research investigates how contemporary art, artists, and art institutions are involved in current social movements and how art contributes to social change in Latin America,” continues Colín, who holds a BA in Visual Communication and Design (2004) and a MFA from the National School of Fine Art in Mexico City and a second MFA from the University of British Columbia. He is currently pursuing a PhD in Interdisciplinary Studies from the University of British Columbia.

Colín participated in the Vancouver Art Gallery Auction in 2014, the Satellite Gallery and Back Gallery Project in Vancouver, BC in 2013 and the Biennial of Painting Rufino Tamayo in Mexico City in 2011.

The LAB is a contemporary experimental space designed specifically for presenting challenging and dynamic projects within the AGGV.

The exhibition runs through April 19, 2015.