Hannah Rickards’ artistic practice studies the relationship between perception and experience. Resistant to the construction of narrative, she employs a range of conceptual tools and media to create works that measure the limits of language and map conditions of uncertainty in our attempts to discern and describe the world. Rickards’ solo exhibition of new work at the Gibson, I am the infant and I am the bird, is informed by her relocation from London, UK, to an acreage in Syilx Okanagan territory in the interior of British Columbia. Life in this new context, with its markedly different tempo and scent—a rural valley thick with orchards, pastures, and lumber mills, encircled by rocky benchland—invoked a metabolic shift in the artist’s approach.

Rickards’ characteristically spare installation rewards a willingness to slow down: single channel videos capture brief glimpses of hummingbirds recorded in the soft grey light before dawn. A large-scale video work depicts footage gathered over years by an infrared trail camera erected in Rickards’ pasture. Triggered by motion, the camera does not differentiate between the types of activity it detects. Depending upon the duration of their visit, viewers may experience the erratic flight of a moth, a grazing deer that pauses to stare arrestingly at the camera or simply long stretches of wheatgrass nodding in the breeze. A series of photo-lithographic-and-silkscreened prints, created by Rickards using remote viewing—a paranormal practice of perceiving a distant or hidden subject without the aid of the senses—reconsider questions of landscape and place.

In its alertness to the agency of the world, I am the infant and I am the bird shares much with early interpretations of photography. For the first decade of its existence, the photographic image was understood not as “captured” or “taken” but rather as something “received from the world.” As William Henry Fox Talbot observed in an 1839 letter, “It is not the artist who makes the picture, but the picture which makes itself.” While the question of where and how we place our attention has always been fundamental to Rickard’s work, I am the infant and I am the bird invites an uncoupling from contemporary culture’s relentless “attention economy” to allow a consideration of how we might more carefully attend to the world’s ways of revealing itself to us.

Takao Tanabe’s fascination with landscapes comes vividly to life through his travels across British Columbia, North America, the Arctic, and Europe. With his camera always at hand, he journeyed widely to explore the wonders of places that sparked his curiosity and creative drive. Tanabe captured their geographical features and unique atmosphere, translating them into paintings in his studio that balance careful observation with poetic reflection. His works invite quiet contemplation, as if he listens intently to the land itself.

Machu Picchu (1990-2012) is a look back on Tanabe’s journey there in 1977. Each brushstroke, layer of colour, and element of composition evokes the memories and spirit of the place, which Tanabe revisited in his mind while working on the painting. He returned to it in 2012, completing it to his satisfaction at that time.

In Suffolk Village (1996–97) and Peninsula, N.L. (2014), Tanabe demonstrates precise attention to form, colour, and space. Suffolk Village depicts a historical coastal town under dramatic skies, while Peninsula, N.L., pares the landscape to sky, land, and sea, emphasizing its clarity. In contrast, Arctic and northern interior landscapes such as High Arctic 2/91, Aston Bay, Somerset Is. (1991) and Chilcotin 1/89, Frozen Lake (1989) use diffused light, soft contours, and muted greys and blues to evoke solitude, introspection, and the emotional resonance of extreme environments.

One of the highlights of this exhibition is a triptych, N.W.T.1/97: Beaulieu River (1997), donated by the artist to the Audain Art Museum in 2018. This large-scale river painting has a quiet intensity, offering the viewer an immersive engagement with nature, while capturing Canada’s breathtaking scenery.

Across continents, oceans, and lands, Tanabe’s travel paintings in this exhibition reveal both the poetic essence of the world and its quiet, meditative spirit, offering a deeply contemplative vision of place.

Presented by Arts Whistler in collaboration with the Whistler Rainbow Connection, Out/side is a powerful visual arts exhibition celebrating the diverse sexual orientations and gender identities of the Sea to Sky’s 2SLGBTQIA+ community. Through a compelling range of mediums, queer artists and local allies reflect on what it means to be visible, find belonging, and navigate identity in a region heavily defined by recreation and constant motion. Don’t miss the free, all-ages Out/side Art Party on Friday, June 19 (6 PM – 8 PM), featuring an interactive art station and a special live drag performance by Carlotta Gurl!