Public Volumes
April 6 – May 5, 2019
Curated by Noa Bronstein
Every Day Had a Day in its Way (2019) is a site-responsive installation that engaged with imagery from the city of Mississauga’s archives, particularly the perspective of those women who joined the workforce for the first time to produce munitions during the Second World War. During this period of militarized industrialization, women lived in housing adjacent to the Small Arms Inspection Building and self-published a newspaper to boost morale. We were particularly drawn to the illustrations of Mary Oke, whose cartoons depicted women’s perspectives on joining the war-time labour force, often via a humorous critique of gender.
Linking archival imagery with the banality of present-day cubicle partitions engendered a consideration of the increasingly isolating conditions for administrative workers that were so familiar in offices at the time of this exhibition, which was just prior to the massive transition to the work-from-home culture of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Participating Artists:
Small Arms Inspection Building: Joi T. Arcand, Cathy Busby, Stephanie Comilang, Sheena Hoszko, Germaine Koh, HaeAhn Paul Kwon Kajander, Morris Lum, Dawit L. Petros, jes sachse, Kara Springer
Bradley Museum: soJin Chun (interior), LeuWebb Projects (exterior)
City Hall: Amanda White
Collaborators: Letticia Cosbert, Nicole Hanson, Sajdeep Soomal, Anu Radha Verma
Photos by LFDocumentation
Every Day Had a Day in its Way (2019)
Cubicle partitions, glass, cullet, plexiglass, found objects, 4 x 6 color photos, stained glass, MDF, plywood & rose-gold mirrored acrylic bankers’ boxes, ceramic plate, thermal receipt, reprinted archival material, ballpoint pen drawing on paper, wig, upholstery, bespoke suit set made of cubicle upholstery, acrylic paint on paper, magnets, foundry wax, scorched burl wooden bowl, vitrail, wig, office phone handset, oil-stick on stripped and primed cubicle partition, oil-based stain on wood, commercially printed canvas.
Every Day Had a Day in its Way (2019) - Installation views
Every Day Had a Day in its Way (2019) - Installation views
Every Day Had a Day in its Way (2019) - Installation views
Every Day Had a Day in its Way (2019) - Installation views
Every Day Had a Day in its Way (2019) - Installation views
Every Day Had a Day in its Way (2019) - Installation views
Every Day Had a Day in its Way (2019) - Installation views
Every Day Had a Day in its Way (2019) - Installation views
Every Day Had a Day in its Way (2019)
Cubicle partitions, glass, cullet, plexiglass, found objects, 4 x 6 color photos, stained glass, MDF, plywood & rose-gold mirrored acrylic bankers’ boxes, ceramic plate, thermal receipt, reprinted archival material, ballpoint pen drawing on paper, wig, upholstery, bespoke suit set made of cubicle upholstery, acrylic paint on paper, magnets, foundry wax, scorched burl wooden bowl, vitrail, wig, office phone handset, oil-stick on stripped and primed cubicle partition, oil-based stain on wood, commercially printed canvas.