PIECES
Victoria Kjargaard
The Cube
April 13 to July 6, 2024
Curated by Elsie Joe, Curator, Secwépemc Museum and Heritage Park
Pieces brings together the artwork of settler artist Victoria Kjargaard, in dialogue with Nłeʔkepmx curator Elsie Joe. As well as being Kjargaard’s personal reckoning, the exhibition and collaboration enacts reconciliation through a process of coming to terms with and communicating difficult histories. Victoria Kjargaard’s graphic compositions depict images of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School and its residents combined with natural imagery. The work is a memorial to young lives taken and provides space to pause for reflection, recognition, and connection with this violent past.
When Kjargaard heard about the discovery of 215 unmarked graves located on the former property of the Kamloops Indian Residential School (KIRS), she felt the need to find time for her own reflection and understanding. Kjargaard grew up in Kamloops and yet had learned little of what occurred in and around the large red brick building only a river apart from the city centre. As a non-Indigenous artist, Kjargaard embarked on this project as a way of responding and sharing this history. Joe worked closely with Kjargaard to conceive the exhibition as a way of publicly sharing this personal project and opening dialogue.
While the stories of children’s graves were quietly told within Tk̓emlúps and numerous other Indigenous communities by those who have endured the lived experience and the intergenerational trauma of to the Residential School System, news stories brought this truth to light in the wider public. When faced with the inconceivable truths of the KIRS, Kjargaard embarked on this project as a way to confront her own shame, ignorance, anger, and sadness. Guided by regional photographs and site-specific documentation, Kjargaard allowed each photograph to speak and lead her towards their final compositions.
The images were set with a process that involves pouring epoxy, sanding, and layering imagery. This approach creates an aged appearance akin to a tattered and worn photograph. The compositions express stillness and evoke a hidden or fractured memory seeking to be shared. This series represents Kjargaard’s own acknowledgment of the Le Estcwicwéy̓, and related histories and she hopes the work will help viewers foster an understanding of this tragedy and point towards a path of collective healing and unity.
Artist and Curator Biographies
Victoria Kjargaard is a Vancouver-based artist, born in Ontario and raised in Kamloops. In 2021, she approached Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc Chief and Council to pursue a project memorializing the Le Estcwicwéy̓ at the site of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School. With the Chief and Council’s approval, Kjargaard documented the school grounds and surrounding lands, incorporating the imagery into archival photographs from the collection of the Kamloops Museum and Archives.
Elsie Joe is of Nłeʔkepmx ancestry and grew up within the community of the Lower Nicola Indian Band just outside Merritt BC. Joe completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts at Thompson Rivers University. She is currently employed within the Language and Culture Department of Tk̓emlúps te Secwépemc as the Curator for the Secwépemc Museum and Heritage Park. Through her position she hopes to promote greater understanding and to help enable the transfer of language, history, and culture to those within and outside of Indigenous communities.
Victoria Kjargaard
untitled (from the series Pieces), 2023
Resin, translucent paper, wax
Photo credit Kamloops Museum and Archives/Victoria Kjargaard
51 x 51 cm