Kamloops Art Gallery
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Event categories: Galleries & Exhibits
Event tags: KAG
Laura St. Pierre
The Central Gallery
September 26, 2026 to January 9, 2027
Curated by Crystal Mowry
All That You Change Changes You shines a light on Laura St. Pierre’s decade-long approach to two survivalist tropes: scavenging and sowing. Borrowing its title from the opening lines of Parable of the Sower (1993), a novel by the late author, Octavia E. Butler, this exhibition brings together works made over the last decade, all produced against the backdrop of a built environment transformed by absence and adaptation. In Butler’s dystopian novel, the narrative unfolds through the journals of a teenage protagonist who imagines a new belief system along with her new experiences. Informed by this narrative and other forms of speculative fiction, St. Pierre’s work similarly imagines an unstable future where new models of existence emerge out of necessity, yet remain rooted in old knowledge.
In the video installation Spectral Garden II (2018), viewers are surrounded by haunting projections of a submerged make-shift garden, slowly rotating and lit by unseen flames from above. The garden is accompanied by photographs of other “specimens” and detritus collected by The Scavenger (a character conceived and brought to life by St. Pierre) and stored in improvised vessels for human and plant life alike. St Pierre does not depict The Scavenger directly but instead focuses on the fruits of their labour. The Scavenger is seen through the decisions they make as they transform their environment—which plants they have given a place of honour; which vessels they entrust to this task—decisions weighed with a fraught past and an uncertain future in mind. More recently, St. Pierre introduced another character to her work—The Sower. Unlike the covert labour performed by The Scavenger, The Sower can be seen at work in the overlooked and unkempt corners of an anonymous city. Performed by the artist dressed in a protective suit to shield them from environmental contaminants, The Sower is intent on preserving the fledgling ecosystems left behind by rogue civilizations.
This exhibition includes a revised version of Les Porteuses, an installation St. Pierre created in relation to a similarly titled performance. Les Porteuses is a matriarchal reinterpretation of the French-Canadian folktale of a bewitched canoe and loggers who gamble their souls to cheat time and fate. In St. Pierre’s reimagining, a procession of brave women from the future enters a pact with the devil in order to return to the 21st century in time-travelling canoes. Landing in Kamloops in 2026, they collect plant specimens from the Southern Interior to revegetate a barren future landscape. Throughout these works, St. Pierre reminds us of the value of even the most minute forms of plant life, land, water, and light. Amid the decay is an underlying sense of optimism; although future generations may inherit an inhospitable landscape, it is not without hope. St. Pierre highlights the value of unassuming treasures, that anything we find can be saved, and in turn, what we save may save us.
Laura St. Pierre: All That You Change Changes You is organized and circulated by the MacKenzie Art Gallery. Curated by Crystal Mowry. The MacKenzie receives ongoing support from the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation, Canada Council for the Arts, SaskCulture, City of Regina, University of Regina, and Saskatchewan Arts Board
Kamloops Art Gallery
The Kamloops Art Gallery is a registered charity and not-for-profit society.
Incorporated in 1978, the Kamloops Art Gallery serves residents of and visitors to Kamloops (pop. 82,000) and the surrounding Thompson-Nicola Regional District (pop. 124,000) as well as national and international audiences.
In 1998, the KAG moved to a purpose-built civic building, designed by award-winning architects Peter Cardew and Nigel Baldwin, which also houses the Thompson-Nicola Regional District offices and the Kamloops branch of the TNRD Library System. The 20,853 square foot Gallery includes 4,500 square feet of exhibition space, an admissions/store area, two multipurpose studio/workshop/lecture rooms, a packing and acclimatization area, the collection storage vault with an adjoining workroom and, on a mezzanine above, administration and curatorial offices along with a research library. In 2006, the KAG was designated a Category “A” institution under the Cultural Property Export and Import Act.
The Gallery’s annual attendance has ranged between 24,000 and 37,000 over the last five years. It enjoys a national reputation for its touring exhibitions and publications and has developed relationships with national and international artists, curators, critics and scholars. The KAG is also well respected for its exhibitions, events and educational and public programs through activities organized and presented in the community and region involving both contemporary and historical art. Its collection as of December 2012 consists of 2,700 works that primarily reflect the Gallery’s exhibition history. In 2005, the KAG co-commissioned with the University of British Columbia’s Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery Canada’s participation in the 51st Venice Biennale with the work of Rebecca Belmore.
Governed by a Board of Trustees, the KAG maintains an effective organizational structure that includes a Management Team led by the executive director, a Program Team led by the curator and a Development Team led by the manager of operations. Teams meet monthly to report, evaluate, problem solve and plan.
Vision
The Kamloops Art Gallery brings art, artists and communities together.
Mandate/Mission
The Kamloops Art Gallery is the principal gallery in the Southern Interior of British Columbia supporting contemporary and historical visual arts and practices on a local, national and international level. The KAG acknowledges art to be an essential part of the human experience in nurturing a healthy society. As a leading cultural institution, the KAG is an integral part of the fabric that draws intellectual, social and economic opportunities to our province and to our region.
The Kamloops Art Gallery fosters enjoyment of and interest in the visual arts by researching, developing and producing exhibitions, publications and programs that engage, challenge and inform its various audiences. The Gallery also oversees the development and preservation of a permanent collection that includes regional, national and international art in all media. It also strives to create rewarding opportunities for visual arts professionals and the public.
Guiding Principles
- Committed to art, artists and audiences
- Collaborative, respectful and ethical
- Tolerant, inclusive and diverse
- Relevant to local and regional communities
- Striving for excellence
- Fiscally responsible
- Sustainable