Exhibit runs July 1 – August 22, 2024
Kathy Thiessen Art Gallery
Admission is free
With fragments of past and present, this show explores ideas of memories and the concept of home.
Tia Furstenberg (b. 1997) is a first generation Canadian. Her family’s 2005 immigration from South Africa to Canada is reflected in this body of work; the ripple effect of this life-changing decision and transition is still felt today and prevalent in her artistic practice. Symbols of nature, various landscapes, and memories in these two countries overlap in each piece.
Tia and her sister’s childhoods were documented very well; a few boxes of physical photos and many scrapbook pages were brought with the family in the transition. There have been several visits to and from South Africa, yet they’ve been far and in-between. The reliance on photos, stories, continuing traditions, language, and family are what have kept their first home a part of her cultural identity.
Just like memories, Tia’s paintings are fragments of past and present. Through imagery provided in photos and her own memories, Tia has visually documented her perceptions and emotions of living in and leaving South Africa and then growing up in Canada. She collages images of herself, her two sisters, and Ouma, with both familiar and unfamiliar landscapes, consequently blurring the lines between reality and imaginary. These works address feelings of displacement, isolation, nostalgia, and growth—concepts that all immigrant families face when transitioning to life in a foreign country. Some of the questions posed by Tia in her work are as follows:
What (or who) makes a place a home?
How does the interconnectedness of family, place, and spirit shape self-identity?
What role do photographs play in memory recollection and/or reconstruction?
This body of work was made possible thanks to SK Arts and their microgrant program.
About the artist
Tia Furstenberg holds a B.F.A. (2020) from the University of Saskatchewan. Her focused areas of creating are drawing and painting. During her studies, Tia exhibited artwork in Saskatchewan and Quebec, worked as a studio assistant for Allyson Glenn, and travelled to Greece through a University of Saskatchewan-funded grant for research. She is an instructor at and co-owner of Prince Albert’s Lemon Yellow Art Studio, and the full-time Registrar/Digital Media Coordinator at the Mann Art Gallery.