Other Worlds is the third in a series of exhibitions organized by Amy Malbeuf and Jessie Ray Short exploring the work of Métis artists. In this iteration, the artists—Malbeuf, Suzanne Morrissette, Tannis Nielsen, Tiffany Shaw-Collinge, and Short—ground themselves within and move beyond the earth and solar system to ruminate on outer, inner and deep space. With a particular focus on the ethereality of science and technology, the artists examine their relationships to unseen forces and concepts of spirit and in/visibility. The fundamental forms of energy, such as electricity, and physical forces, such as gravity, determine the observable structure of the universe. Everyone has an electromagnetic field around them. It exists around all beings and all things, and yet, it is difficult to perceive (most of the time). We are bound together by these forces, even if the mechanisms by which they are believed to function are not completely understood.

Broadly speaking, people are un-practiced at living with, acknowledging and interpreting the various signs and signals that comprise other possibilities, other ways of being, other worlds. The inexplicable persists, haunts, dreams, makes hair stand on end, instructs and confounds and frequently escapes straightforward explanation while having profound, if not subtle, effects. What else is there beyond this observable physical existence? What about those instances and occurrences that cannot quite be quantified or measured? What are the other possibilities, other ways of being, other worlds we participate in knowingly or unknowingly?

Other Worlds acknowledges the existence of the immeasurable and examines the space between knowing and unknowing. The artists in this exhibition explore the inexplicable through reflection and mirroring within materials and mediums including, but not limited to, mylar, water, glass, static, electrical plasma and other matter. They explore the intersections between the forces of cultural, familial and personal worldviews to make tangible the intangible. The resulting artworks are charged with ancestral and personal dreams, memories, and stories that push and pull on the limitations of human perceptions and raise questions about how knowledge comes into being. Each artist’s creation is the binder that connects knowing to the unknown.