THE ART OF MARY ANNE BARKHOUSE

"They stand against us because we stand in their way. We're not deceived by their pretences to piety. We have seen their kind before. They're the heirs of all the murderous ideologies of the 20th century. By sacrificing human life to serve their radical visions, by abandoning every value except the will to power, they follow in the path of fascism, Nazism and totalitarianism. And they will follow that path all the way to where it ends in history's unmarked grave of discarded lies." George W. Bush

"More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly." Woody Allen

While I come from a family of traditional northwest coast carvers, I have always worked within a contemporary sculpture/installation style. The commonality that I find with my relatives' work is that, regardless of the diverse materials that we use, we all depict narratives of our environment taken from personal and social histories. My materials, for example bronze, silk, velvet and gold, are chosen for their historic association with value. Previous installations - such as the chapel setting of wake, petition with the beaver patiently waiting on the Victorian hall chair or Night Beaver's revisitation of 1970's disco glam - deliberately draw upon familiar domestic situations to generate a directed response from the viewer on their relationship to history and the environment. Referencing the cyclical nature of conflict, focus investigates the human impulses surrounding the rules of engagement. Birds associated with the spoils of battle sit atop trophies while the surrounding hearth scene ('focus' is Latin for 'hearth') depicts the omnipresence of the natural world. Challenging ideas of sanctuary are ghostly clear castings of naturally shed deer antlers mounted above the mantle with a sooty looking wolf waiting by the fire. The text engraved on these trophies is from the above-noted statement that George Bush included in his address to Congress on September 19, 2001. In this Bush verbally constructs the timeless dichotomy of us = good, other = evil as a motivational instrument to create support for war. Installations created for the Boreal Baroque exhibition feature indigenous wildlife situated amongst 18th Century furnishings. By combining the wild with the wildly opulent I am striving to promote thought on issues of sovereignty and survival in our northern environment. As I watch the daily drama that unfolds in the wetland at the back of my house I continually marvel at the tenacity and adaptive abilities of the resident flora and fauna. I reflect on the evolution that has crafted them over millions of years to fill the niches that they occupy and wonder how, or if, we still fit into the greater ecological picture. Mary Anne November, 2007