July 16 – October 30, 2021

UNFURLED: UNSETTLING THE ARCHIVE FROM A MORE THAN HUMAN PERSPECTIVE

Solo exhibition by Jill Price

Jill Price is an artist, curator, educator and Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council scholar grateful to be living and working on the traditional territory of the Huron-Wendat, Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabe peoples in Barrie, Ontario. Price attained a BFA and a BEd at Western University, and an MFA in Interdisciplinary Art Media and Design from OCADU.

Now a PhD candidate in Cultural Studies at Queen’s University, Price is currently investigating her role as a white-settler artist in times of truth and reconciliation. Price is also exploring unmaking as a creative act that helps to disrupt colonial and capitalist perspectives, practices and presentations of land.

OMAH and the artist would like to thank the Paul Quarrington Legacy Fund for the support of this exhibition and note that no animals were injured or killed during the making of this exhibition.

Details

July 16 – October 30, 2021

Jill Price places finishing touches on Unfurled exhibit
Close up of wall paper in Unfurled exhibit

IMAGE: Reminiscent of 19th century wallpaper patterns, this hand-drawn ink wallpaper by Jill Price presents a patterning of fur and animal forms.  It will be part of a colonial parlour installation in the exhibition.

ARTIST STATEMENT

Unfurled is an exhibition that speculates on how animals might choose to engage with, frame, label, and question material objects held within the archives of museums. This exhibition draws out narratives based on animals hunt- ed, trapped and exchanged as part of the trade networks of the North American fur trade. This enterprise led to the Atherley Narrows between Lake Simcoe and Lake Couchiching becoming a key site for cultural and capital ex- change, and the eventual formation of Orillia as a European settlement.

Working with reclaimed furs to animate the space as well as incorporating a selection of wood items cut from liv- ing and breathing forests, the artist visualizes how the habitats of these furry and feeling beings continue to be ex- propriated and destroyed for human use. The work also speaks to the fragile entanglements of ecology and econ- omy that often deny, dismiss or destroy the more-than-human histories that inform our shared geographies.

Unfurled utilizes objects and materials held within OMAH’s historical collection, original artworks, and word play to examine what animals and humans have in common. The exhibition’s installation also alludes to how the thriv- ing abundance of animals traded for fur led to the material wealth of North America’s early European explorers, traders and settlers, their prime predators.

Acknowledgements 

THANK-YOU TO THE PAUL QUARRINGTON LEGACY FUND FOR THEIR SUPPORT OF THIS EXHIBITION.

Beastly Acts and Beastly Beings

An Essay on  the exhibition Jill Price, Unfurled: Unsettling the Archive from a More-Than-Human Perspective at the Orillia Museum of Art & History,  by Curator Tanya Cunnington.

UNFURLED INSTALLATION PHOTOS

Click on the photo to enlarge.

Unmake the Unwearable!

Adult Workshop

Did you inherit a fur coat, stole, shawl or hat that you will never wear, but feel like it is important or has value?  Inspired by the exhibition Unfurled and the work Fur Lined in which the artist dismantles fur objects to cover over the signature stripes of a Hudson Bay wool coat, join artist / educator Jill Price for a two-session workshop in which she will help you explore methods of unmaking and reimagining to help revive the materials and memories of the past.

Becoming an Animal!

Children’s Workshop

Have you ever imagined what that rabbit or squirrel in your backyard is thinking? Inspired by dioramas within the exhibition Unfurled, join artist and educator Jill Price for four fun activities exploring the world of animals right outside your door!