DEANNA BOWEN reframes African American Christian spirituality in 'Hymnals'

>DEANNA BOWEN: Hymnals
Opening: May 11th, 7-9
Exhibition runs to July 1st, 2007

Hymnals is a conceptual photo series that revolves around the artist’s efforts to reframe African American Christian spirituals as nomadic “road songs” within the greater contextual framework of the Black diaspora. Over the passing centuries, the spiritual has determinedly prevailed as both vehicle for subversion and transcendental tool. Accordingly, Hymnals relies upon an understanding that despite Christianity’s problematic history, African-American slaves and freed blacks have found refuge, solace, strength, and at times, education within the black church for generations.



Bowen collected the pictured hymnbooks in the summer of 2006 while shooting her upcoming experimental documentary about her great grandparents’ migration from a cotton plantation in Alabama in 1911. The photos are part of a larger conceptual project Gospel; an interdisciplinary work that illuminates the interconnected spaces of slavery, Christianity, race, gender and sexuality. This project takes criticisms of black Christianity into account while looking to the long-standing intersection between Canadian and American slave histories as an artistic starting point. Once completed, Gospel will premiere at the University of Toronto’s Graduate Student Thesis Exhibition in April 2008. Bio: Deanna Bowen is a Toronto-based media installation artist. She is a graduate candidate in the University of Toronto’s Masters of Visual Studies Program and received her Diploma of Fine Arts from Emily Carr College of Art and Design in 1992. Her work has been exhibited nationally (Toronto, Chatham, Montreal, Regina, Vancouver) and internationally (Germany, France, Switzerland, Italy) in numerous film festivals and galleries. She has received several grants in support of her artistic practice, most notably from OAC, TAC, Toronto Lesbian and Gay Community Appeal, Telefilm Canada and BC Cultural Services. In addition to artistic production, Deanna has also worked in the cultural sector for over 10 years at organizations such as the Images Festival of Film, Video and New Media, InterAccess Electronic Media Arts Centre, the Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto (LIFT), Point of View Magazine, Women in Focus Arts & Media Centre, and the Inside Out Lesbian & Gay Film and Video Festival.

For more info visit: www.deannabowen.ca

DEANNA BOWEN at WonderWorks Fleishman Gallery, November 3rd, 2006

>DEANNA BOWEN: (truth)seer

The WonderWorks Fleishman Gallery is pleased to present the installation of Deanna Bowen’s single channel projection (truth)seer from November 3rd to December 9th 2006



(truth)seer is a dreamlike experiment in story telling that plays with time and narrative with the use of audio design and symbolism. The work conceptually examines the ways in which time distorts as individual consciousness mutates. Bowen developed the 18-minute looping video (truth)seer during a three year period of personal and creative exploration. Using the allegory of David and Goliath, (truth)seer constructs a symbolic depiction of spiritual transformation through a triumph over an array of personal issues and the expansion of consciousness. The work reinterprets the story through live action 16 mm footage, hand drawn characters, and digital animation; recasting the central characters as identical twins to metaphorically propose that both characters are facets of the same person, thus transforming the narrative into a struggle within the self.

Deanna Bowen is a Toronto-based media installation artist. She received her Diploma of Fine Arts from Emily Carr College of Art and Design in 1992 and is recently completed her Master’s Degree in Visual Studies at the University of Toronto.

Her work has been exhibited nationally (Toronto, Montreal, Regina, Vancouver) and internationally (Germany, France, Switzerland, Italy, Spain) in numerous film festivals and galleries. She has received several grants in support of her artistic practice, most notably from OAC, TAC, Toronto Lesbian and Gay Community Appeal, Telefilm Canada and BC Cultural Services. In addition to artistic production, Deanna has also worked in the cultural sector for over 10 years at organizations such as the Images Festival of Film, Video and New Media, InterAccess Electronic Media Arts Centre, the Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto (LIFT), Point of View Magazine, Women in Focus Arts & Media Centre, and the Inside Out Lesbian & Gay Film and Video Festival.

For more information on Deanna's work, please visit http://www.deannabowen.ca/

Opening Reception: Friday November 3, 2006 from 7-9pm