Victor Dahdaleh Foundation supports new Virtual Canada Gallery and Meryl McMaster exhibition

The Victor Dahdahleh Foundation is delighted to be the principal sponsor of the Canada House Gallery and to be supporting the creation of the new Virtual Canada Gallery this month.

The first artist to be featured in this new digital medium is the work of Indigenous artist Meryl McMaster.

With current events having regrettably forced the temporary closure of Canada House Gallery, the High Commission of Canada’s Cultural Diplomacy team have been hard at work to bring McMaster’s exhibition alive online in the new Virtual Canada Gallery.  The exhibition features a number of stunning works together with exclusive, never-before-seen artist commentary and audio-visual elements.

The show was curated by Verity Seward and Ocean Masterman-Smith of the Baldwin Gallery, IKON Gallery in Birmingham.

On behalf of the Victor Dahdaleh Foundation, Victor Dahdaleh commented: ‘While so much of everyday life continues to be impacted by the current pandemic, it is fantastic to see the showcasing of wonderful Canadian talent continuing through the Virtual Canada Gallery initiative, and specifically the Meryl McMaster show. We’d encourage you all to go and take a look around and listen to the great musical accompaniment by Jeremy Dutcher.’

About the Artist 

Meryl McMaster is a Canadian artist, living and working in Ottawa. She describes her work as sculptural photography — incorporating props, constructed garments and performance to examine her sense of identity and selfhood. McMaster has dual heritage and is Nêhiyaw (Plains Cree) and a member of the Siksika First Nation on her father’s side and has British, Dutch and Scottish ancestry on her mother’s side.

For her latest series, As Immense as the Sky (2019), McMaster set out to gather the wisdom and folklore of relatives on both sides of her heritage. She traveled to sites of ancestral significance across Canada following waterways and ancient pitching trails where social, cultural and environmental histories have collided.

Her self-portraits reanimate mythology and family anecdotes through her own personally transformative journey through the landscape. The series draws upon themes of memory, migration, genealogy and time as McMaster retraces the footsteps of her ancestors. Her images explore the intersections of both her Indigenous and European heritage whilst revealing Canada’s conflicted colonial legacies.

To listen to alongside McMaster’s images is the music of Polaris Prize winning, Jeremy Dutcher.

Ends

For further information on the Victor Dahdaleh Foundation contact Matthew Moth on email: matthew.moth@madano.com or t: +44 (0) 7770 381263

Notes to Editors

About the Victor Dahdaleh Foundation

The Victor Dahdaleh Foundation is a global charitable organisation focused on health, education and social & economic development.

Founded by Canadian businessman and philanthropist Victor Dahdaleh, the Victor Dahdaleh Foundation supports education, health and social development programmes around the world, taking an active role in the initiatives it funds. As a Canadian and an alumnus of York and McGill universities in Canada, Victor Dahdaleh also promotes closer ties between Canada and the UK through the work of the Foundation.

The Foundation funds a wide range of academic research into areas such as neuroscience and cardiovascular disease, as well as broader global issues with health implications such as migration and the environment.

For more information on the work of the Victor Dahdaleh Foundation visit our website at victordahdalehfoundation.com or LinkedIn.