THIS LAND WAS MADE FOR YOU AND ME

“When does history become a memory? How does that memory record a truth? What do you do with that truth?” My family immigrated to Canada from Ukraine in 1986 in search of work and land. More than a decade later with their homeland at war with Britain, and British Empire, including Canada, thousands of immigrants like my family were declared “enemy aliens”. 8,579 men, women and children were detained in 24 camps across the country. The fate of my family is an ongoing investigation. It is an investigation of interment, something that has gone on for more than 100 years, on all continents, and, in almost all countries. This series relies on a historical point of departure. Using historical documents, images and personal interventions I examine how we occlude the experiences of marginalized or subaltern groups. The present has precedents in history and I use Canada’s internment operations to make lines of connection. Intensely surreal coloration of historical images serves as a visceral punctation within a series of largely black-and-white work. This is my truth drawn from collective stories. This is their story. It is my story. It is our story. The project was developed as a collaboration with art historian Taous R. Dahmani (Sorbonne/Oxford), Library Archives Canada, the Canadian War Museum, the Canadian History Museum, their employees, and other organizations and individuals.