Mannequin show will be revealing

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This article was published 22/06/2011 (5360 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If mannequins could talk, the ones in the care of Connie Chappel might just be worth a king’s ransom.

Chappel, a long-time Riverview resident, will hold an exhibition called Mannequins of Puerto Vallarta at Outworks Art Gallery from July 12 to 23, with a reception on July 15 from 7 to 10 p.m.

The exhibition will feature a photographic installation by Chappel and a performance titled la Mordida (The Bite) by dancer Sarah McQueston, which will be set against a sound piece using audio recorded in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

The artist says the concept is based around the image of a shop mannequin that hears and sees all — but says nothing. She uses the mannequin image to create an environment to engage audiences into thinking about sociological issues and cultural beliefs.

“There’s this underbelly in Mexico that you just don’t see staying in an all-inclusive resort,” said Chappel, who first visited the nation as a North Kildonan-based teenager with her school geography class, and now spends up to three months a year there with her husband, Len Paquin.

“Mexico can be very corrupt. You talk to shop owners who tell you things. What you don’t hear in the newspapers are stories about police asking for money to leave you alone. These little bribes happen to Canadian tourists, but people are reluctant to talk about it.”

Chappel said she fell in love with Mexico after her first visit — “it gave me a taste of the exotic, which gave me the travel bug” — while the eventual impetus for her exhibition happened by chance one day.

“I came across a mannequin in a shop window in 2009, took a picture, made a collage from her image, started a collection and it went from there,” said Chappel, whose previous jobs include a 16-year stint as a recreation director in long-term care and retirement facilities.

During the interactive exhibition, McQueston will perform to the backdrop of sounds Chappel recorded on her travels — including traffic, birds, donkeys and the ocean — which will be spliced with techno music.

“She’s going to be a mannequin and perform on the hour. Audiences will be invited to dress her, so she will be ever changing and wear mannequin faces like a mask. I think it will be interesting,” Chappel said.

She noted that despite the themes of her exhibition, Mexican life draws an interesting parallel to Winnipeg.

“I’m not afraid to go there, because there’s also crime going on in our own city. It’s just that we know more about what’s happening here because of the way it’s reported,” Chappel said.

“I love Mexico — the liveliness, the carelessness, the recklessness.”

Outworks Art Gallery is located on the third floor of 290 McDermott Ave. For more information, call the gallery at 949-0274 or visit www.connie-chappel.com.

simon.fuller@canstarnews.com