September 28 – November 2, 2024
Walker is an American-born artist currently teaching at NSCAD University. Local viewers may be familiar with her large-scale installations on local barns, inspired by 20th century propaganda posters to create nuanced statements commenting on our political and social past and potential future.
For this series of printed works, Walker is working in response to a short story, “Chickamauga” by Ambrose Bierce, investigating shared violent legacies, including the histories of the colonial (settler), colonized, and the forcibly displanted. She explores how these big and often romanticized historical moments, including war and heroism, influence our shared present. Further, she imagines what these moments – and the ways of presenting them in art – might mean for future generations, including, most personally, her legacy for her children.
Walker also reflects on the history of printmaking in this show. Mass reproduction allowed by printing allowed for the widespread distribution of imagery and text leading to movements of both rebellion and conformity. Through the detailed and sometimes painful labour of carving, “imperfections” inherent in carving wood, to the lack of subtlety that sometimes inherent in wood block, Walker sees a connection between the way of making the work to the subject of the pieces in this exhibit.
In creating the woodblocks for this work, Walker says rather than finding just tedium in the many hours to create each block, she finds the time can create a deeply inquisitive space, allowing her thoughts about the subject to be integrated into the works as she carves.
The Ross Creek Centre is thrilled to welcome Ericka Walker’s work to the Gallery and is grateful for the operational support of the NS Department of Communities, Culture, Tourism and Heritage.
