The latest exhibition at the Soul Gallery in the Exchange District is a study\u00a0in\u00a0stark contrasts.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On the northern wall of the gallery, abstract paintings with an almost-metallic veneer\u00a0reflect a grounded, immovable\u00a0faith held by artist Sue Gordon in a collection appropriately titled Steadfast. On the opposite wall, softer colours share Aliana Au\u2019s view of the landscapes outside of Winnipeg, particularly those along\u00a0the banks of the Red River.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Au\u2019s inspiration for these works (collected under the title Changing Light)\u00a0came almost\u00a0immediately\u00a0after arriving in Winnipeg after growing up in mainland China outside of Guangzhou and in Hong Kong.\u00a0\u201cWhen I first got off the plane, I was in shock,\u201d she recalls. \u201cI looked at that vast openness of sky and the horizon, and I\u00a0said,\u00a0\u2018I have never seen anything like that.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
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With that flatness comes a feeling Manitobans know on a visceral level: the harsh winds that blow especially hard in the winter. Most of Au\u2019s\u00a0landscapes are situated in the winter, with the open whiteness of the fields marked with the greens of the shelterbelt trees.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe force of the wind, I mean, everybody can feel it,\u201d says Au. \u201cNot that you physically feel it, you can\u00a0see\u00a0it \u2013 the bending of the trees, the sun and everything. But those evergreens are so striking\u00a0\u2013\u00a0it’s\u00a0like a protection.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Another colour that Manitobans will recognize in Au\u2019s work is that telltale pink of the horizon.\u00a0The colours of the sun coming through the harsh winter air are the reason that Au dubbed her half of the dual exhibition Changing Light in the first place. \u201cI\u2019m sensitive to pick up all those pink, orange,\u00a0[and] yellow,\u201d she explains, \u201cand because you have so much sky, you are much more aware of it. My sense of the light and how important it is to me…\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0just survival in the wintertime.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n