This event is free to attend, but please pre-register as space is limited
This event, which takes place at The Art Gallery of St. Albert, brings together two beautiful collections of ekphrastic writing: Dark Chapters: Reading the Still Lives of David Garneau, and The Beauty of Vultures by Wendy McGrath.
Featuring: David Garneau and Wendy McGrath
Dark Chapters: Reading the Still Lives of David Garneau
Dark Chapters brings together 17 poets, fiction writers, curators, and critics to engage with the works of David Garneau, the Governor General’s Award-winning Métis artist. Featuring paintings from Garneau’s still life series “Dark Chapters” alongside poetry, fiction, critical analysis, and autotheory, the book includes contributions from Fred Wah, Paul Seesequasis, Jesse Wente, Lillian Allen, Billy-Ray Belcourt, Larissa Lai, Susan Musgrave, and more.
A nod to the Reports of Truth and Reconciliation Commission, in which Justice Murray Sinclair describes the residential school system as “one of the darkest, most troubling chapters in our nation’s history,” Garneau’s still life paintings combine common objects (books, bones, teacups, mirrors) and less familiar ones (a Métis sash, a stone hammer, a braid of sweetgrass) to reflect the complexity of contemporary Indigenous experiences. Provocative titles like “Métis in the Academy” and “Smudge Before Reading” invite consideration of the mixed influences and loyalties faced by Indigenous students and scholars. Other paintings explore colonialism, vertical and lateral violence, Christian influence on traditional knowledge, and museum treatment of Indigenous belongings. Rooted in Garneau’s life-long engagement at the intersections of visual art and writing, Dark Chapters presents a multifaceted reflection on the work of an inimitable, unparalleled artist.
Includes contributions from Arin Fay, Billy-Ray Belcourt, Cecily Nicholson, David Howes, Dick Averns, Fred Wah, Jeff Derksen, Jesse Wente, John G. Hampton, Larissa Lai, Lillian Allen, Paul Seesequasis, Peter Morin, Rita Bouvier, Susan Musgrave, Tarene Thomas, and Trevor Herriot.
The Beauty of Vultures
The interplay between photography, nature and poetic form is on full display in Wendy McGrath’s and Danny Miles’ collaborative new work The Beauty of Vultures. This innovative collection takes readers into the surprisingly chatty world of birds, whose avian artistry and poignant plumage mimics the formally and structurally inventive tones found in each poem. The language wings its way between funny and serious, poignant and morbid, while always drawing parallels between the poets thoughts and the cameras eye. From peahens telling off their elaborately festooned romantic partners, robins empty eggs recalling air raid tests after WWII, to seagulls serving as harbingers of humanity’s ongoing crimes against nature, each unit of photography melds seamlessly with its poetic doppelgänger.
DAVID GARNEAU (Métis Nation of Saskatchewan) is a Professor of Visual Arts at the University of Regina. He is a painter, curator, and writer who engages creative and critical expressions of Indigenous contemporary ways of knowing, being, and doing. He received the Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Art: Outstanding Achievement, is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and received The Order of Gabriel Dumont Silver Medal. Garneau has curated more than two dozen exhibitions in Canada and internationally (including the Museum of the American Indian, NYC). He has given keynotes in Australia, New Zealand, and throughout Canada and written numerous articles and book chapters on re/conciliation, museums, Indigenous contemporary and public art, and numerous other topics. His performance, Dear John, featuring the spirit of Louis Riel meeting with John A. Macdonald statues, was presented in Regina, Kingston, and Ottawa. David recently installed a large public artwork, the Tawatina Bridge paintings, in Edmonton and designed the Riel Commemorative Silver Dollar for the Canadian Mint. His painting exhibition, Dark Chapters is currently touring Canada, and is supported by Chapters: Reading the Still Lives of David Garneau, a collection of poems and essays by seventeen authors (University of Regina Press, 2025).
WENDY McGRATH (she/her) is a Métis poet, writer, and artist living in amiskwacîwâskahikan (Edmonton). Winner of the inaugural Prairie Grindstone Prize, McGrath’s writing embraces multiple genres. Her latest poetry collection, The Beauty of Vultures, (NeWest Press April 2025) is inspired by and includes the bird/wildlife photography of Danny Miles, drummer for the band ‘July Talk.’ Her most recent chapbook/artist’s book, The Orange Scribbler (Jack Pine Press 2023) is a hybrid work inspired by heirloom family recipes. She has collaborated with visual artists and musicians, exploring the relationships between genres. McGrath has published four novels, two poetry collections, and two chapbooks/artist’s books which explore a range of forms and approaches. Broke City, the final book in her Santa Rosa Trilogy, continues her exploration of the prairie gothic. She is an established member of the writing community, enriching it through mentoring, teaching, and engaging in literary events.
This event is presented in partnership with The Art Gallery of St. Albert
