"Shelter Unit" by Brendan Fernandes
Brendan Fernandes, Shelter Unit, 2005, mixed media, dimensions vary.
3-7 November, 2005
TAAFI (Toronto Alternative Art Fair International)
at the Gladstone Hotel, Room 212, 1214 Queen Street West ON
Opening Night Gala: Thursday, 3 November, at 9pm. Admission $25.00
Exhibition:
Friday, 4 November - Sunday, 6 November, 12-8pm
Monday, 7 November, 12 - 5pm, admission $6.00
Shelter Unit is a site specific installation using boxes, crates and white ceramic deer to create a space that could be a warehouse but with an undetermined purpose. Are these objects being shipped away or are they waiting to be unpacked? To whom do they belong? As an Indian born in Kenya and raised in Canada, Brendan Fernandes is interested in tracing his experience of cultural displacement, and explores (in) authentic cultural formations through migration. Shelter Unit is part of a body of work that looks at tourism’s contribution to the exploitation of particular societies, how through the sensationalized experience of vacationing cultures are reduced to entertainment.
Brendan Fernandes was born and raised in Nairobi, Kenya, and immigrated to Canada in the early 1990s. In 2005, he completed his Masters in Fine Arts at The University of Western Ontario, and his Honours Bachelor in Fine Arts in 2002 at York University. Currently he teaches Print Media and Foundation Studies in the Department of Visual Arts at the University of Western Ontario. Fernandes is a former board member at the Forest City Gallery in London, Ontario and is currently on the board of London Canadian Film Festival. He has received numerous awards and scholarships including: The Tim Whiten Award and The Jack Bush Painter’s Scholarship.
