Protect Your Love
D’Arcy Wilson
Khyber Centre for the Arts
November 6 – 23
Opening: Monday, November 5, 8pm

Visual Arts Nova Scotia (VANS) in collaboration with the Ecology Action Centre (EAC) and the Khyber Centre for the Arts are pleased to present D’Arcy Wilson’s exhibition Protect Your Love. The exhibition is the culmination of Wilson’s  project completed during the Re:Focus Sustainable Art Residency.

During her time as artist in residence, D’Arcy Wilson traveled to wilderness areas throughout the province of Nova Scotia where she installed campsites and surrounded them with an electric fence for protection. Subsequently communication stations (groupings of walkie-talkies placed in the forest) were established around the sites— a fair distance away, but still visible with binoculars. Standing within the perimeter of her fence, Wilson used the transmitting walkie-talkie to speak to the wildlife around her while still maintaining a safe distance. Protect Your Love chronicles her efforts while documenting her alienation from the
surrounding wilderness.

Wilson is a Halifax-based interdisciplinary artist working primarily in performance and video.  Wilson received her MFA in 2008 from the University of Calgary. Most recently, she exhibited her work in a two-person show, Fleshold at the ODD Gallery, Dawson City YT and had a solo exhibition, Tuck at the Owens Art Gallery, Sackville NB. She has participated in residencies at the Banff Centre and the Confederation Centre in Charlottetown, PE. She has received grants form the New Brunswick Arts Board and the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.

The Protect Your Love blog accompanies the Re-Focus Sustainable Art Residency hosted by Visual Arts Nova Scotia (VANS) the Ecology Action Centre and the Khyber Centre for the Arts, describing the performances in greater detail.

Visual Arts Nova Scotia (VANS) acknowledges support from the Nova Scotia Department of Communities, Culture and Heritage to realize the Re:Focus Sustainable Art Residency project.

Press Please Contact:
Daniel Joyce, Khyber Centre for the Arts, 422-9668, director@khyber.ca
Briony Carros, Visual Arts Nova Scotia, 423-4694, director@visualarts.ns.ca

About the Ecology Action Centre (EAC)

Since 1971 the Ecology Action Centre has been a vital and independent voice for environmental sustainability in Nova Scotia. The EAC is proud to be a membership-based, grassroots organization with an effective and unique structure and approach; we have over 1,200 members and 300 active volunteers. The EAC’s environmental work has a strong emphasis on environmental education and community development. For more information, visit www.ecologyaction.ca.

About the Khyber Centre for the Arts

Established in 1995, the Khyber Centre for the Arts fosters critical thought in society by operating an artist-run centre that presents non-commercial contemporary art and facilitates dialogue, social interaction and information exchange for professional and emerging artists and interested members of the general public. For more information, visit www.khyber.ca.

About Visual Arts Nova Scotia (VANS)

Working for the advancement and rights of the visual arts and artists in Nova Scotia, VANS is an inclusive organization established in 1976. The non-profit service organization provides exhibition, marketing and educational opportunities and support to the visual arts sector across Nova Scotia. Recognized as a critical resource for the visual arts in Nova Scotia, the public frequently consults VANS about Nova Scotia-based artists, and the visual arts sector in general. Since 1978 VANS has published Visual Arts News, the only magazine in Atlantic Canada dedicated to contemporary art. As a primary resource for visual artists and providing access to a community of peers, VANS fosters excellence, skills development, and lifelong learning in the arts.