Dan Bergeron (Toronto ON) Vince Kogut (Windsor ON) Dulce Pinzón (San Andrés Cholula Puebla, Mexico)
An invitational group exhibition as part of MayWorks Windsor 2014
Reception for “The Dignity of Work” and MayWorks Windsor celebrations:, 7:30 pm, May 2, 2014
Artists, and speakers will be address the theme of the representation of work and Windsor’s MayWorks celebrations..
In defiance of the “erasure” of aspirational images of working people, The Dignity of Work aims to re-affirm the importance of the representation of workers and work.
Keynote Speakers:
Susan Gold Smith; MayWorks Windsor 2014
Bernard Helling to introduce the show and the artists
TBA show artists in attendance
Paul Chislett; WWEC Windsor Workers Education Centre
Pat Strople; CUPE 543
Live performance by WFT’s Trevor Malcolm after the speakers
Dan Bergeron (Toronto ON), is a photographer and street artist who photographed and reproduced on a gigantic scale, the images of the workers at the Papiers Gaspesia mill in Chandler Quebec, which closed in 1999 despite a government-sponsored infusion of nearly 400 million dollars, causing Chandler to lose more than half of its population. The site is now slated for destruction. A Vietnamese company is dismantling most of the mill’s machinery to send to Vietnam.
Gaspesia: Les portraits en papier literally puts a human face on the industrial remains of Papiers Gaspesia. Portraits of the former mill and forest workers are installed on the front of the mill and on the mill’s oil tanks. While these men and the story of the mill are well known in the community, the deteriorating mill itself has been the only public memorial to the pride, grief and frustration those affected by the closure feel. The images of these workers now mark the physical structures of the mill and lay claim to its history and to its continuing impact on Chandler. One of the subjects, Serge Soucy, remarked that you could see his “eyes were crying for the mill” when he saw his own 30 foot face on the Papiers Gaspesia’s oil tank.
Gaspesia: Les portraits en papier was commissioned by Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie en Gaspésie as part of their annual photography festival in conjunction with the city of Chandler, Quebec.
Vince Kogut (Windsor ON) ” I’m from Windsor, Ontario, Canada where the only jobs are factory work. It’s a culture around here as it is in Detroit. I used laborers in my work due to their relevance to the culture, but my main focus is to take subjects that may be overlooked or unappreciated and depict them in a heroic or romantic manner. Most of the subjects that were in Proletariat were my friends and family that are involved in that line of work. They were all pretty stoked on being involved in an exhibition and it was awesome to see the arts culture mesh with the labor culture. Bringing groups of people together that wouldn’t usually be was the most rewarding thing for me. Breaking down cultural barriers between groups of viewers is an aspect of my work I hope to keep developing.” Vince Kogut interview frank151.com
Dulce Pinzón’s (Brooklyn NY, USA/ San Andrés Cholula Puebla, Mexico) “The Real Story of the Superheroes” introduces the Mexican immigrant in New York in a satirical documentary style featuring ordinary men and women in their work environment donning superhero garb, thus raising questions of both our definition of heroism and our ignorance of and indifference to the workforce that fuels our ever-consuming economy.
