[BCMA] Homage to the Heart by Brenda Joy Lem opening at RAG on April 14, 7pm

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-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	Homage to the Heart by Brenda Joy Lem opening at RAG on April 
14, 7pm
Date: 	Tue, 5 Apr 2011 15:27:26 -0700
From: 	Hickey, Paula <PHickey at richmond.ca>





/Homage to the Heart/

Brenda Joy Lem//


Floating, (detail) 2008, silkscreen on paper, 22 x 30"

**

*Richmond Art Gallery*

*April 15 -- June 12, 2011*

*Opening: Thursday April 14 at 7pm*

**

"Homage to the Heart" addresses themes of memory, oral history, 
spirituality and "the enduring heart" as artist Brenda Joy Lem explores 
her family history and the threads that connect generations.Working from 
family and archival images and stories told to her by relatives, she 
recounts fragments from the history of her family's immigration from 
China and early history in Canada.Lem's grandparents came through the 
Victoria/Vancouver port when they arrived in Canada over 100 years ago. 
They eventually settled in Oshawa, Ontario where Lem's grandfather 
opened the town's first hand laundry in 1921.The stories told to Lem, 
like those of many new immigrants, chronicle exclusion, colonialism and 
personal strife - they also speak of survival, joy and the ability of 
the heart to persevere.Lem describes her art as a spiritual practice, a 
developing awareness and understanding of self and nature. It is through 
the process of making her work, sifting amongst images and personal 
stories received as memories from her relatives, that recognition and a 
deeper understanding of self emerge. Photography and memories are often 
at odds with each other. Photographs capture a scene within the frame of 
the lens; memory is more fluid allowing us to capture and retain what is 
relevant and significant to the holder, including emotions, sensations, 
conversations and the residues of previous experiences. Exploring a 
familial history from which she was mostly absent and has no memory of, 
Lem mediates the past and present, the stories and the photographs, and 
imbues the images with new significance and meaning.

**

Brenda Joy Lem is a multi-media artist and has been exhibiting her art 
for over 20 years in galleries across Canada and the United States. She 
works in printmaking, collage, film, writing and improvisational 
music-voice and piano, as well she has been Taiko- drumming for over 25 
years. She lives and works in Toronto.Most recently her work was 
exhibited at the Robert McLaughlin Gallery in Oshawa, Ontario.

The artist will be in attendance at the opening reception in Richmond.

The Richmond Art Gallery gratefully acknowledges the support of the City 
ofRichmond, the British Columbia Arts Council and the Province of 
British Columbia.

*Contact Information
*Paula Hickey

Exhibit & Gallery Coordinator
phickey at richmond.ca <mailto:phickey at richmond.cat>
Tel  604.247.8312.
e.phickey at richmond.ca <mailto:e.phickey at richmond.ca>

*Richmond Art Gallery **
*www.richmondartgallery.org
<http://www.richmondartgallery.org7700/>180-7700 Minoru Gate
Richmond BC V6Y 1R9
Tel: 604.247.8300
Email: gallery at richmond.ca <mailto:gallery at richmond.ca>



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