Dominique Rey

Essay for Truck Gallery 25th Anniversary Publication

Scott Rogers
September 10th, 2008
Truck Gallery
The Grain Exchange (Lower Level)
815 1st Street SW
Calgary AB Canada
T2P 1N3

Dear Renato Vitic, Erin Belanger, Jennifer McVeigh and the Board of Directors at Truck Gallery:

Re: 25th Anniversary Publication

I am a visual artist, writer and facilitator currently based in Calgary, Alberta. It is as a colleague that I am writing in support of Dominique Rey, the artist who recently exhibited her work Sisters of the Cross as part of Truck's ongoing main space programming in October 2007. As a member of the Board of Directors at Truck since 2006 and a member of the gallery since 2003, I feel it is my great privilege to extend heartfelt congratulations to the gallery and to the artist on a job well done. I also wish to take this opportunity to recommend that Dominique Rey's work be included as part of Truck's 25th Anniversary Publication.

Over the course of my involvement with Truck I have felt the enormous benefits that Truck provides for local, national and international artists through its gallery programs and outreach activities. From my early experiences (thank you Linda, Holly and Ed for your kind words when I was struggling) through my first artist-run-centre exhibition (Keith, Katherine and Jason thank you as well) to my current involvement with the Board of Directors, the Programming Committee and fundraising, Truck has proved to be a dynamic and positive place for artists, art-making and the development of critical discourse. It is with this in mind that I consider Dominique Rey's work to be both a highlight of recent programming at the gallery and a particularly fascinating and successful addition to Truck's ongoing list of achievements.

My first experience with Ms. Rey's work occurred as a result of my participation in Truck's programming jury. Being involved with an artist-run-centre on a decision making level was a new experience for me and I wanted to have a hand in steering Truck into the future. It was an exciting time with many excellent submissions from Canadian and international artists.

Upon first review of submissions Ms. Rey's work stood out as a particularly strong candidate for a solo or group exhibition. Her proposal was succinct and professional and her work was thoughtful and extremely well researched. She also had a history of successful presentations of her work, including a major solo exhibition at Plug In ICA in Winnipeg. The only question about Dominique's proposal came from the fact that she planned to exhibit a body of work which had not yet been completed. This nearly finished project was titled Sisters of the Cross, and consisted of videos, photographs and watercolour portraits that culminated two years of research at a Catholic convent in Winnipeg. The research and production of Sisters of the Cross followed on the heels of another intensive body of work titled Selling Venus, in which Rey documented the backstage life of women working in a strip club. Selling Venus utilized photography and video to document the women in the club as they prepared to go on stage for their performances - subtly examining the role of the self-conscious gaze and the mirror in constructing representations of female sexuality. Together (although the two projects are not explicitly a couplet), Sisters of the Cross and Selling Venus appear to correspond to the historical western binary that divides female identity into representations of whores and virgins. Beyond simple dichotomies though, each project encounters its subject's as complex and unique individuals, providing broader, humanistic readings which defy reification in ideology. The combined documentation from these projects was the programming committee's primary source for judging Ms. Rey's work.

As always, there was some debate, but the programming jury decided that Rey's proposal and the successful reception of her previous projects stood out, warranting a solo show despite the "in progress" nature of the work. Additionally, it was felt that the theoretical position developed in Sisters of the Cross provided a much needed infusion of discourse around themes of gender at a time when these concerns have become less apparent in Calgary's art community and had virtually disappeared from mainstream culture.

Although her exhibition was delayed by a number of months, Rey's Sisters of the Cross opened in Calgary on October 12, 2007. Prior to the exhibition opening I had the pleasure of meeting the artist during a dinner hosted by the Truck Board of Directors. At this point I had not viewed Sisters of the Cross, but found it a pleasure to converse with Ms. Rey about her work and ideas. As always, it was enjoyable to share thoughts about art and life in the convivial atmosphere of a large group meal, particularly when this meal serves to welcome a new artist into the Calgary scene.

After dinner, I attended the opening of Ms. Rey's exhibition along with the other Truck board members and a host of Calgary artists and gallery-goers. Sisters of the Cross itself consisted of a series of hymn cards printed with watercolour portraits of the convent nuns, five photographs depicting scenes from the interior of the building and a four channel video with accompanying audio. Careful attention to detail and a meditative, muted tone permeated all of the works. Rey's photographs particularly captivated me. Contrary to her previous work in Selling Venus, these images were absent of figures, displaying instead the living quarters and social spaces of the convent. Easy chairs with a lamp, or a table covered by a verdant indoor garden were the only signifiers of human activity in these works. Similarly, the videos in the exhibition were devoid of individuals, focusing on architecture, interior spaces and ambient sounds from the convent. The only place where Rey used portraiture was in the small watercolour images of the elderly nuns printed on hymn cards displayed on a shelf outside the main gallery space. These intimate artist's multiples conveyed the identity of each nun in a way no lens could. The glare of the instantaneously revealing camera was too harsh for this setting � a place enshrouded with a sense of fragile commemoration and tempered sadness. This melancholic mood - evident throughout the exhibition � suggests a sense of disappearance within the convent. The world Sisters of the Cross depicts is one that is fading away - evaporating into the spectacle of modernity and technology. It is this empathy for a mode of femininity dissolving before our eyes that makes Rey's work so evocative. By subtly revealing their delicate subjectivities, she makes the lives of the Sisters of the Cross universal.

Beyond the niceties, compliments and good memories associated with Dominique Rey's exhibition, it is also important to consider the significance of Sisters of the Cross as it relates to the mission of Truck. Perhaps the opening lines of Rey's Truck invitation essay by Mich�le Faguet introduce this position most effectively: "at a time in which critical discussions of gender in relation to visual art production seem to have retreated into the background, the work of Dominique Rey is a compelling reminder that the question of gender is still as relevant as ever." Though I think it is debatable whether gender has fallen out of favour as a topic of discussion in contemporary art, it is nonetheless a topic which merits thorough and continuous re-examination. Moreover, it is important for TRUCK and other artist-run-centres to continue to support and give historical context to studies of gender that fall outside the realm of popular culture. This is one of the things that artist run centres do best. Rey's work is a significant example of a practice that not only examines gender, but enlivens and enriches the issue with poetic and sensitive qualities. Sisters of the Cross situates itself outside the framework of popular media - deliberately delving into the living world of marginalized female communities. The nuns in Sisters of the Cross have virtually no visibility in contemporary society, but the meaning and importance of their lives is brought to bear. Dominique Rey makes the invisibility of her subjects visible. By including Sisters of the Cross in its 25th Anniversary Publication, Truck will make a commitment to continuing that visibility.

Overall, I believe Rey's work to be of the highest calibre and her exhibition at Truck Gallery stands as both a critically engaging project and a rich visual experience. Without any hesitation, I am happy to recommend her work - it is both a pleasure and a privilege to do so. If there are any questions or concerns regarding this letter or its contents, please feel free to contact me at your convenience.

Yours Sincerely,

Scott Rogers