Three artists’ passionate flow of art about missing women & children

The artists participating in this fall’s Art Expo were asked to provide their own interpretation of human rights for this year’s newly themed Showcase Gallery.

What resulted was an unexpected, passionate flow of art reflecting many current headlines in the news.

Marilyn McNish’s poignant painting called Missing Children, depicts two empty swings. In her descriptive video (see below), she elaborates on her passion – missing children. She highlights the thousands of aboriginal children who died as a result of the past government-forced Residential Schools programs intended to “civilize” them. The fog in the background represents “the truth which has been misted over to justify the action,” McNish says.

Marilyn McNish in her studio

Dianne Lund contributed a very moving piece called Searching for Their Loved Ones (left) that echoes the recent news about the discovery of the body of the missing teen, Tina Fontaine.

“There are so many unsolved cases of missing persons in our country,” Lund says, “Having a loved one missing for a few minutes or hours is hard enough to handle, but to have one missing for months or years is unbearable. Our hearts go out to these families.” Dianne Lund is passionate about finding justice and dignity for the lost and their families.

Elizabeth Delgatty’s bold approach is called Turning a Blind Eye to the Pig Farmer, the result of her reading reports in the newspaper about the murders on the East side of Vancouver.

Delgatty says, “I was incensed by the treatment of these women by Robert Pickton and enraged by the lack of response by the Vancouver police and the RCMP to the concerns of those who reported the women as missing. These men, officers of the law, turned a blind eye to the pig farmer.”

These paintings will be displayed as part of the Human Rights Showcase Gallery at this year’s Manitoba Art Expo. The special themed showcase is in honour of the opening of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, which is slated to open in September.

Art Expo will feature up to 50 of Manitoba’s finest artists, under one roof for three days – Oct. 24th to 26th at Assiniboia Downs. For more information visit: www.manitobaartexpo.ca.

Watch CNC and Manitoba Art Expo websites for updates on this continuing series of articles highlighting artists in this year’s Human Rights Showcase Gallery.