Promise to Place: Toni Only & David Ellingsen

Promise to Place 

Building Relationship with the Land
Toni Onley & David Ellingsen

January 26 - February 17 

Winchester Galleries is pleased to announce the upcoming exhibition Promise to Place; Building Relationship with the Land, artworks by Toni Onley & David Ellingsen. This exhibition is a selected collection of photographs by David Ellingsen exploring issues of climate, deforestation and biodiversity loss, and West Coast landscape and seascape watercolours by Toni Onley.

David Ellingsen - Unravelling Red in Veiled Blue, No. 1 (Fishing Buoy), Pigment ink on cotton rag, 40 x 50 inches, Edition of 5

Unknown Entities

"On any given day, millions upon millions of plastic objects slowly dissolve into the Earth’s soil, air and water. Working their way into the nutrients ingested by the creatures of the planet, plastic's microscopic compounds are now found deep within the very flesh of animal and human. For this on-going project, Unknown Entities, I explore and offer a visual interpretation of the deepening plastics crisis. 

I focused my camera on found objects that have begun their dissolution, or inevitably will with time. The shifting materials caught in the endless fences of Canada’s prairies - the inspiration for further investigation - and a variety of objects gleaned from my own refuse, that of neighbours and friends, and other materials found or still in use but whose particles are destined to become embedded in the biosphere. These items include styrofoam, a fishing buoy, a hula hoop, drink boxes, and a Glo-in-the-dark dog toy. 

Using fine wire rigging and long exposures of seconds and minutes in combination with the currents of wind and water, these photographs reflect a reality of plastic, one of the most ubiquitous substances on the planet, as an unknown entity literally diffusing, dissolving and evolving into the fabric of life itself. While common sense might suggest some disturbing conclusions, scientific studies are only just beginning on the long-term effects of these compounds."

- D.E.

Winchester Galleries Ltd.
2260 Oak Bay Avenue
Victoria, British Columbia
V8R 1G7
250-595-2777
www.winchestergalleriesltd.com