Writer-in-Residence Nic Wilson explores photography’s relationship to Spiritualism, belief, hoaxes, decay, Western conceptions of death and the dead. The exhibition includes images made by leaving the lens cap on the camera, obscuring the lens, to capture a more cerebral and even metaphysical experience of an image. The exhibition features excerpted writing from Wilson’s tenure as Writer-in-Residence at Gallery 44. Wilson explores the possibilities of capturing different realms of metaphysical phenomena and the digital camera's ability to track and image the living’s relationship with the dead.
For more information read Introductory Sketches: Thinking, Reading, and (perhaps) Knowing the Dead, Unseen Forces, and A Vast Image Life - three essays from Wilson's current tenure as Writer-in-Residence at Gallery 44, or listen to them on G44 Digital.
Listen as Nic Wilson and Curator of Exhibition and Public Programs, Lillian O'Brien Davis discuss concurrent themes of spiritualism, death, and the metaphysical in their writing and exhibition, Pavilion of Shadows, on G44 Digital.
Nic Wilson (he/they) is an artist and writer who was born in the Wolastoqiyik territory now known as Fredericton, NB in 1988. He graduated with a BFA from Mount Allison University, Mi’kmaq territory, in 2012, and an MFA from the University of Regina, Treaty Four Territory, in 2019 where he was a SSHRC graduate fellow. In 2021 they were long listed for the Sobey Art Award as a representative of the Prairies and the North. Fluent across media, Wilson creates videos, performances and artist books, and writes essays and art criticism.Their work often engages time, queer lineage, decay, and the distance between art practice and literature. Their writing has appeared in publications such as BlackFlash Magazine, Peripheral Review, and Border Crossings.