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The Kamloops Art Gallery (KAG) proudly presents the exhibition Jayce Salloum: history of the present (selected works 1985-2009) from October 25, 2009 to January 3, 2010. Born and raised in Kelowna, and now based in Vancouver, Jayce Salloum has produced work internationally and exhibited around the world over the course of a 30 year career. This exhibition constitutes the first ever survey of his work. The Kamloops Art Gallery is delighted to be the premiere venue in its cross-Canada tour.

Jayce Salloum’s name may not be a familiar to some Canadians. There are several possible reasons for his relatively low profile within this country, including the non-commercial and interdisciplinary nature of his work, which involves photography and video and various collaborative practices such as community-based work, but also curating and writing. As well, the artist’s social activism and the international focus of his work are unconventional and, for some, disturbing. Yet Salloum is among Canada’s most widely recognized artists abroad. His distinctive commitment to explorations of personal stories and viewpoints within unstable or uncertain geo-political contexts has led to collaborations in places as far ranging as Palestine, the former Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Cuba, Lebanon, Aotearoa (New Zealand), and now Kamloops.

Jayce Salloum is perhaps best known in Canada for a provocative and compelling multi-channel video installation entitled everything and nothing and other works from the ongoing videotape, untitled (1999-ongoing). Along with this work and a number of earlier and later works, Jayce Salloum: history of the present (selected works 1985-2009) includes elements produced during a two-and-a-half year Native Youth Art Workshop series, a project for Aboriginal youth from the Thompson-Nicola Regional District. The Native Youth Art Workshop productions, which include collaborative paintings and a music CD, will be launched on Saturday, October 24, 2009 from 3 to 5 pm at the KAG. The public is invited to attend the celebration.

Jayce Salloum has exhibited extensively, at modest local sites and at grand international venues, from small unnamed storefronts and community centres to institutions such as the Musée du Louvre and Centre Pompidou in Paris, the New York Museum of Modern Art, the National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa), Kunstlerhaus Bethanien (Berlin), CaixaForum (Barcelona), the 8th Havana Biennial, 7th Sharjah Biennial, 15th Biennale of Sydney, at Museum Villa Stuck (Munich), Robert Flaherty Film Seminars, the European Media Art Festival(Osnabrück), the Biennial of Moving Images (Geneva), and the Rotterdam International Film Festivals.

Jayce Salloum: history of the present (selected works 1985-2009) is curated by Jen Budney, Associate Curator at Mendel Art Gallery in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. The exhibition is co-produced by Kamloops Art Gallery, Mendel Art Gallery and Confederation Centre Art Gallery, and supported financially by the Audain Foundation and the Museums Assistance Program, Department of Canadian Heritage. The exhibition tours across Canada in 2010 and 2011.

A full-colour 112 page book on the artist’s work, with texts by Keith Wallace, Jen Budney, Walid Raad, Rawi Hage, Jamelie Hassan, Urban Subjects, Meeka Morgan, Dana Claxton, Ammiel Alcalay, Haema Sivanesan, and others, is available for purchase in The Gallery Store (250-377-2400, هذا البريد الإلكتروني محمي من المتطفلين و برامج التطفل، تحتاج إلى تفعيل جافا سكريبت لتتمكن من مشاهدته ) and online through ABC Art Books Canada, www.abcartbookscanada.com