PUBLIC INVITED TO ATTEND OPENING RECEPTION AT OXYGEN ART CENTRE
2022 July AFN AGA headshot -3768 (1).jpg
rootdigging.jpeg
Manuel Axel-Strain + Kalli Van Stone
Residency
14 July – 18 July 2025
Opening Reception
Friday, July 18, 2025, from 6:00pm to 8:00pm
Exhibition
19 July – 23 August 2025
Oxygen Art Centre invites the public to attend the Opening Reception of their summer exhibition program on Friday, July 18, 2025, from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. The event celebrates the exhibition entitled kt̓kmin uɬ c̓ik̓ʷm (mark and make light), created by artists Manuel Axel-Strain and Kalli Van Stone while in residence at the artist-run centre.
The artists will be in attendance. Light refreshments will be provided. Admission is free.
xʷməθkʷəyəm (Musqueam), Simpcw and Syilx artist Manuel Axel-Strain and Suqnawqin or Syilx Okanagan and Secwepemc artist Kalli Van Stone will develop a new body of work during their five-day residency that will be on view throughout the summer in an exhibition titled, “kt̓kmin uɬ c̓ik̓ʷm,” which is Sylix for “mark and make light.” The exhibition will be on view to the public from July 19, 2025, to August 23, 2025.
In their individual practices, the artists propose opportunities for viewers to glimpse beyond the settler colonial perspective through their chosen mediums of painting and installation (Axel-Strain) and performance (Van Stone).
Often utilizing pictographic and petroglyph depictions in their practices, the artists provoke nuances between what is included and excluded, what is past and present, what is spoken about and what is intentionally withheld concerning entanglements of Indigenous identity, family, and queerness.
Challenging colonial binaries and settler paradigms, the artists collaborate with each other, their families, and their archives and stories to compose a multi-component contemporary art project at Oxygen that will focus on mark making through light (lasers), dance and song (movement and vibration), in an immersive installation.
The public are invited to attend the Opening Reception of kt̓kmin uɬ c̓ik̓ʷm (mark and make light), on Friday, July 18, 2025, from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. The artists will be in attendance. Light refreshments will be provided. Admission is free.
Axel-Strain and Van Stone will be in residence from July 14, 2025, to July 18, 2025, in preparation for their exhibition kt̓kmin uɬ c̓ik̓ʷm (mark and make light), which will be on view at Oxygen Art Centre from July 19, 2025, to August 23, 2025. The Opening Reception is scheduled for Friday, July 18, 2025, from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Everyone welcome to attend.
Oxygen Art Centre is an artist-run centre located at #3-320 Vernon Street along the alleyway behind Baker Street. All events are free to attend.
This program is generously supported by the Canada Council for the Arts and the Regional District of Central Kootenay ReDi program.
Please note that this program schedule has been updated since its initial publicity cycle. Further details about the artists, the program, and the schedule can be found on Oxygen’s website.