Highs and glows

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This article was published 27/01/2025 (320 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg will get a little bit brighter this winter as Lights on the Exchange returns with 24 new light-based art works.

Comprising three projections, nine window installations and 12 lanterns, the works will be on display from now until March 21.

The three projections — Statistical Bouquet 4 by Lydia Yakonowsky, Scott Leroux’s Pepper Green Pepper and Feedback from Room 101 by Aderemilekun (Oluuji) Olusoga, and window installation Lucent, by PJ Anderson — were unveiled earlier this week.

Winnipeg-based Anderson, a ceramic artist, was approached in October last year by festival curator Artspace to create a piece for the festival.

Lucent is inspired by the “venomous and surreal journey” of the lion’s mane and the moon jellyfish, both of which are commonly found in Canadian waters, she says.

The piece is a departure from Anderson’s usual form; her works reference science fiction and Afro-Futurist themes, traditional ceramics from the Americas and Africa, and varied weaving techniques from across the globe.

“It’s been an adventure,” she says. “I make pots and my work is not usually lit or glowing. I wanted to create something that is still mine. A lot of my larger pieces that could fit the space tend to be a little more aggressive. It was a challenge for me to figure out the best way to make my work fit this particular theme.”

Inspired by the otherworldly nature of jellyfish, Anderson began to view her vessels from different perspective. She reimagined her existing works to create the new piece.

Lucent, composed of eight separate vessels lit and suspended in the two Main Street-facing windows of the Exchange BIZ building, is her interpretation of self-illuminating jellyfish.

“I made these jellyfish that move through the world,” she explains. “Some of the vessels have holes so the flow from the light can be seen through them, the woven papers have spaces in between for the light and then there are curtain lights hanging down.”

Yakonowsky’s composition, a vibrant digital bouquet created from data points, models and statistical graphs, is projected onto the Manitoba Museum at the Steinkopf Gardens.

Leroux’s Pepper Green Pepper is projected on the windows of the building on 52 Albert St., while Olusoga’s Feedback from Room 101 can be viewed on the windows of the building on 80 Rorie St.

For a full list of artwork, locations and artist information, visit wfp.to/lightsexchange. More installations will be added to the festival in February and March.

av.kitching@freepress.mb.ca