18 x 24 inch archival inkjet print
AP 2 available
$2,950 framed
 
Artist Statement:
 
Exhibit D (The Chinatown Gate That Could Have Been) is a part of a body of work titled, Believe it or Not, that developed out of a 2019 residency in Saskatoon/Treaty 6 with AKA-Artist-Run. The series asks whom the distance of fiction comforts and the power of local history. Believe it or Not is a reflection on the stories, visuals, and sites of historical reenactments and their resulting effectiveness, intended audience and role in disseminating historical narratives. Each image in the series focuses on individual stories, such as the Quong Wing v Rex Supreme Court case, the Moose Jaw Exchange Café, a laundry tax petition in Saskatoon, Saskatoon's first Chinatown, the Golden Dragon Café and a proposed Chinatown gate in Saskatoon.
 
Biography:
 
Shellie Zhang is a multidisciplinary artist based in Toronto, Treaty 13 Territory. She has exhibited at venues including WORKJAM (Beijing), Asian Art Initiative (Philadelphia) and Gallery 44 (Toronto). In 2017, she was an Artist-in-Residence at the Art Gallery of Ontario. In 2021, she was a recipient of the Toronto Friends of the Visual Arts Artist Award. Recent and upcoming projects include exhibitions at Mercer Union (Toronto), Capture Photography Festival (Vancouver) and the Institute of Contemporary Art San Diego. Zhang works with Patel Brown Gallery.