Brenda Draney
Drink from the River
Brenda Draney
July 25, 2024 - January 5, 2025
Brenda Draney’s Drink from the river features works that delve into the complex questions around the notion of intimacy. Sifting through images culled from her own personal archive, her memory, and the Internet, Draney refers to figures and moments that have shaped her lived experiences. In her paintings, however, Draney leaves space for viewers to reflect upon the content presented as well as the subject matter at hand. Brenda Draney’s artworks explore the relationship between memory-making and knowledge production by way of storytelling. Examining the ways in which narratives are not only formed and shaped by personal or shared events but also influenced by socially accepted constructs, her works invite us to constantly reconsider what we think we know.
Throughout the exhibition, Drink from the River invites deep rumination and contemplation on the vulnerabilities that are kept hidden or at bay. It suggests that what is truly intimate can also be truly horrific; that what is buried away can be agonizing. Oftentimes, the body, as if haunted, unconsciously responds to these pains even when only slightly exposed. Yet like a punctum, these sufferings can lead to a private understanding of oneself, independent of any cultural code. But to begin, we must be willing to drink from the river.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Brenda Draney (b. 1976, Edmonton) is Cree from Sawridge First Nation, Treaty 8, with a strong connection to Slave Lake. Draney’s work is collected and shown across Canada, including the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; Embassy of Canada Art Gallery, Washington, DC; Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton; Sobey Collection, Nova Scotia; and Shorefast Foundation, Newfoundland. She was awarded the 2009 RBC Painting Competition and the 2014 Eldon and Anne Foote Visual Arts Prize (both in Edmonton), and she was short-listed for the 2016 Sobey Art Award at the National Gallery of Canada. She is represented by Catriona Jeffries, Vancouver.
Brenda Draney: Drink from the River is initiated, organized, and circulated by The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, Toronto, in collaboration with The Arts Club of Chicago; Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton; and Art Gallery of Grande Prairie.
Exhibition Generously Supported by Christine and Murray Quinn
Featured Artwork:Brenda Draney, Toast, 2022, oil on canvas, 60 x 48 in. (153 x 122 cm)
