Last night, on my birthday, I checked out one of two art openings in Ottawa.
This exhibition took place at de Montigny Contemporary and featured a compelling double bill showcasing Atticus Gordon’s In Search of Lost Time alongside Ava Margueritte’s Landfall.
The pairing offered an engaging contrast in perspectives and artistic approaches, making for a thoughtful and immersive viewing experience.
The exhibition runs until March 21, 2026.
About Atticus’s In Search of Lost Time:
In Search of Lost Time borrows its title from Proust’s famous early 20th-century novel.
In his modernist epic, recollections of youth and adolescence are combined with experimental form.
These spirits animate this new sensitive body of work by Atticus Gordon.
Made throughout the artist’s 30th year, he remembers, imagines, and invents narratives of youth and coming-of-age.
The paintings and drawings in this collection are staunchly experimental.
They toy with formal questions, painterly organization, and the multiplicity of meaning.
Atticus’s practice is focused on the questions and problems of painting in the contemporary moment.
He rejects the status quo, producing works which demand a close looking – being seen on their own terms.
Abut Ava Margueritte’s Landfall:
Landfall explores the importance of support networks and the natural environment in mental health.
Having lived with multiple neurodiverse conditions since I was young, including depression and anxiety, I have learned that often my needs do not align with societal expectations.
In creating portraits of individuals from my community and the places in which I seek solace and refuge, my photographic series highlights my lived experience navigating an uncertain world with invisible disabilities.
This work conveys the nuance beyond binaries, revealing that mental health is never static. Our well-being is shaped by a complex interplay of environments, living conditions, employment, and even the weather.
Each person moves to their own natural rhythms, and sometimes the demands of societal structures are rigid and unyielding, superseding their personal needs. By striving to always meet the expectations of others, we are at risk of failing ourselves and becoming more vulnerable to symptoms of anxiety and depression.
Landfall brings attention to mental health by illustrating its continuous, cyclical presence and challenging conventional narratives about this universal human experience.
My images juxtapose the fluidity of nature with the rigidity of society, visually expressing the delicate balance of self-acceptance. Through sharing my story, I transform a solitary experience into one of connection. Now more than ever, we need to promote greater awareness of mental illness during these unprecedented and chaotic times and reflect on the quiet politics of simply existing.
Check out the gallery.
