Art Metropole / I WONDER

Events > Exhibition

27 Nov. 2021

I WONDER

Artist: Cathy Busby
Curator: Jonathan Middleton

November 27, 2021 – ongoing/evolving/semi-permanent

I WONDER is a mural installation project by artist Cathy Busby produced as a tribute to, and in the artistic and typographic style of, her late partner Garry Neill Kennedy.

The work quotes a common refrain made by Kennedy late in his life, as he coped with advancing dementia. The phrase ‘I wonder’ would be voiced as a catch-all response, at times when he was at a loss for words or had lost the thread of a conversation.

I WONDER carries a special additional meaning, knowing Kennedy’s long career as a conceptual artist and educator. Kennedy was president of the Nova Scotia College of Art & Design from 1967-1990, and was responsible for transforming the school into a world-renowned centre for conceptually-based practices. As wonder and curiosity are natural precursors to research and pedagogy, the work takes on an open, even hopeful reference to a life dedicated to learning, teaching and artmaking.

The work was originally conceived and installed by Busby for the Vancouver care facility where Kennedy spent the last few months of his life. I WONDER is rendered in Superstar Shadow, the trademark typeface Kennedy used in many of his large-scale text murals. The combined familiarity of the font and phrase was a way to signal to Kennedy that he was ‘home’.

Now, installed along the east and north walls of Art Metropole’s new storefront location on College Street, the work takes on the role of a public memorial. Since the 1970s, Kennedy had an association with Art Metropole as an outlet for his own printed matter, and as a co-publisher with the NSCAD Press. I WONDER will remain up, eventually becoming partially obscured by shelves and other artworks that will grace the organization’s walls over time, but serving as an ongoing supporting idea for activities in the space.

Busby’s I WONDER follows a number of works in her practice that engage the topics of care, memorial, and lament. Other such works include Self-Help Book Library (1993, 2014), Where Does It Hurt? (1996), Harriet Nahanee (2010), and Steve’s Vinyl (2011, 2013).

Cathy Busby is Canadian artist based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She has a PhD in Communication (Concordia University, Montreal, 1999) and was a Fulbright Scholar at New York University (1995-96). She has an MA in Media Studies (Concordia University, 1992) and a BFA (1984) from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. She has been exhibiting her work internationally over the past 20 years.

Jonathan Middleton is an artist, curator, and publisher working between Toronto and Vancouver. Middleton served as Executive Director of Art Metropole between 2019 and 2024. He previously worked as Partner and Editor-At-Large at Information Office, a Vancouver-based design and publishing studio. He served as Director/Curator of Vancouver’s Or Gallery from 2007 to 2017, during which time he established the Or’s bookstore (2011-) and Berlin satellite space (2010-2015). Middleton also served as Director/Curator of the Western Front Exhibitions Program (1999-2005), and was a founding member of the art periodical Fillip in 2004, serving on its editorial board and as its first publisher until 2008. He maintains an active art practice and has exhibited and screened his work at the Contemporary Art Gallery (Vancouver), VIVO Media Arts, Vancouver International Film Festival, Inside Out, Moving Pictures, the Chicago International Film Festival, Dazibao (Montreal) and Konsthalle 323 (Stockholm). He was a founding member of the Artist Run Centres and Collectives Conference (ARCA).