Fern Helfand with her photo piece installed in the airport gallery space.
FCCS Visual Arts professor, Fern Helfand recently installed her new work, Okanagan Log Pile, in the Kelowna Art Gallery satellite space at the Kelowna International Airport.
Fern retired from her teaching position at UBC Okanagan this past spring. Fern taught photography in the BFA program from 1998 until 2018.
Her photo-based work addressing environmental concerns and the medium of photography itself has been exhibited across Canada and internationally.
Artist statement:
Okanagan Log Pile embodies the duplicity of the wood industry in British Columbia. It represents the vast forests of the province, a renewable resource if handled properly, and the lumber industry, one of the major economic foundations of the region, a historical source of livelihood for many. On the other side of the coin, it speaks to clear cutting, and loss of the forest, not only through widespread logging, but because of the devastation caused by the recent pine beetle infestation and the annual threat of wild fires. It also represents the transformation of our environment from forest valley and hills, traditional home to the Indigenous peoples of the region, to lands cleared of their natural habitat to make way for shopping malls and real estate developments with monster homes, which in turn have been partially constructed from the trees that once stood in their place.
Read more about the installation in the Kelowna Caplital News article on Fern Helfand.
Visitors leaving Kelowna can view the photo installation at the departure gate at the airport from now until February of 2019. Form more information, visit the Kelowna Art Gallery web site.