by CHRISTINE REDFERN

Walking with Dominique Blain through her new exhibition at the Musée d'art contemporain, we come across a clothing piece, "Japan Apologises." The work is a reaction to a newspaper article about Korean women forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese army in World War II. The women wanted an official apology from the Japanese government, and they never received one.

Blain took a traditional Korean garment, spread it open from the waist down and stamped the words "Japan Apologises" all over the inner lining. The irony is grating. "I am not trying to convince anybody of anything," she says when I ask her what she wants viewers to take with them. "I am often troubled or disturbed or shocked or saddened - all these feelings when I see certain news or images. Often a piece starts by me being en colère, and this is my way of dealing with that. I have to sit down and think. When I work on a piece like ‘Japan Apologises,' it touches me because I am a woman and no woman can remain indifferent."

A Montreal native, Blain came to prominence in the 1980s with her impact-heavy brand of political art and is now known around the world. Her work takes on themes of human rights, racial and sexual equality, ecology and the media. Twenty works make up this exhibition, some of them created specifically for it.

In "Details," a selection of photographs of black men hang on a wall. Walking around to the other side of the wall, we see that the photos are actually cropped from larger shots that show a white explorer being carried by a group of local black men. These are surprisingly common photos, Blain tells me, of turn-of-the-century African travelogue writers waxing intrepid. Though the feeling comes up, Blain's exhibition isn't about giving viewers an opportunity to shake a smug finger at past colonial pursuits. Whether reflecting on contemporary or historical events, the work ultimately points out our own cultural blindness. It forces us to admit that our own perception of the global reality is in many ways as shallow as that of the colonial explorer.

Blain's "Rug" looks like a traditional Oriental carpet - until we notice the design motif is constructed entirely from anti-personnel land mines, reproduced in actual size. It's hard not to think differently about landmines when walking across the rug, which effectively raises the issue of which countries make the weapons, who profits from the sales and who pays the price.

Though she might not be trying to convince people of anything, Blain's work leaves a lingering feeling. "With my art I want people to think, to question themselves," she muses. "I guess I want to touch their conscience. My intention is to find the right way physically and visually to share my thoughts on specific subjects that are disturbing to me. It always starts with an injustice that I cannot stand."

Dominique Blain'S Exhibition runs at the Musee D'Art Contemporain until April 18, free on Wednesday nights