"The underlying theme of the show is that your conception of what it is like to have a baby does not always match the reality," says Salt Spring Island artist Diana Lynn Thompson. Laid out on tables throughout Galerie La Centrale are personal journals, written by 12 of the 30 women who collaborated with Thompson in the making of Conceptions. The entries in the diaries range from the day-to-day routine involved in raising a child, to giving a baby up for adoption that was conceived during a rape.
On the walls are four works made of multiple objects. "200 Days" is made of 200 baby bottles filled with substances whose potentially harmful nature only becomes an issue once we are pregnant. Another work, "Veil," is made of both real and invented medical instruments. "In all of these pieces I do not want to say, 'This is the way it is,' positive or negative," Thompson says. "What is important to me is to let the voices and experiences of many different women speak through my work."
At Galerie La Centrale (460 Ste-Catherine W., #506) until March 24. Info: 871-0268.
"The underlying theme of the show is that your conception of what it is like to have a baby does not always match the reality," says Salt Spring Island artist Diana Lynn Thompson. Laid out on tables throughout Galerie La Centrale are personal journals, written by 12 of the 30 women who collaborated with Thompson in the making of Conceptions. The entries in the diaries range from the day-to-day routine involved in raising a child, to giving a baby up for adoption that was conceived during a rape.