An Amelia Douglas Gallery solo exhibition opening today explores the concepts of aging, memory and identity within the framework of cultural beauty standards.
Across 10 figural paintings, Vancouver-based artist Annette Nieukerk’s latest series, The Long Road Home, evokes the intensity of emotion and intimacy that can exist between older people.
“The Long Road Home is, at essence, a love story,” Nieukerk said. “The story of an older couple is told both through the physicality of their aging bodies and in the images of memory, places and times past that form the world in which they now exist.”
Nieukerk said she hopes her art will invite visitors to question the notions of beauty and aging in our culture. As a direct reflection on her own aging process, Nieukerk’s work focuses on the aging body to challenge stereotypes that equate beauty solely with youth.
“Older women, older couples – those often overlooked by our society’s focus on youth and anti-aging – become portrayals of beauty in my multi-layered, multi-media paintings,” she said. “In a culture that glorifies youth and beauty, my paintings question the taboos surrounding the depiction of aging bodies.”
The exhibit will also feature select works from Nieukerk’s Allegory and Grace, a series of figural paintings in praise of older women that confronts a dominant negative perception toward aging.
The exhibit runs until July 2 at the Amelia Douglas Gallery at the New Westminster Campus. Admission is free.
Douglas College is the largest degree-granting college in B.C., combining the academic foundations of a university and the employer-ready skills of a college to graduate resilient global citizens who adapt, innovate and lead in a changing world.
For more information, visit douglascollege.ca
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