Emily Neufeld
Prairie Invasions: A Homecoming
Gallery Two
Opening reception: Thursday, Sep 12, 5–8 pm
Exhibition Info
The work in Prairie Invasions: A Homecoming interlaces abandoned farmhouses with the history of their inhabitants and creates a moment of pause and empathy for the lives that took place in these specific sites, but also for the land that the houses are built upon. Humans are changing our landscape at an increasingly rapid rate. On Turtle Island specifically, the relatively recent colonial occupation has left tremendous impacts on people, communities, languages and cultures, as well as homes, gardens, forests, plains and fields. The multitude of settlers that now live here brought a world of flora and fauna to this place. Some of them are invasive species, while others have naturalized and are beneficial contributors to the communities that are already here. Prairie Invasions asks viewers to consider how each of us participates in the multiple communities we are a part of, both human and non-human alike. Can we learn from the dandelion and enrich the ecosystems we are part of?
Prairie Invasions: A Homecoming is co-presented with the Durham Art Gallery. The exhibition will be on display concurrently in Durham, Ontario from September 7–November 17, 2024.
Photography: Scott Lee
Artist Biography
Emily Neufeld received her BFA from Emily Carr University of Art + Design in 2013. She lives and works on the unceded territories of the Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh, and Musqueam peoples in what is currently named North Vancouver. She is committed to examining her Mennonite and Scottish settler colonial histories in understanding her relationship to this place as Indigenous land. Recent solo exhibitions include Prairie Invasions: A Hymn (2022, Southern Alberta Art Gallery, AB), Before Demolition: Tides (2019, Eyelevel Gallery, NS), Motherlands (The Pole, Den Haag, ND), and Before Demolition (2017, Burrard Arts Foundation, BC). The artist participates in community sharing gardens, and sees soil and labour as fundamental to her research process. The artist wishes to acknowledge the generous support of the Canada Council for the Arts and British Columbia Arts Council.