Response By
Jenna Rose Sands
Will Gorlitz Grassfire, 1994
oil on canvas Gift of the Artist, 2003Response
What is the purpose of art in a gallery? Should it be comfortable, quaint, relatable? Or should works be provocative, diverse and often, uncomfortable?
Grassfire by Will Gorlitz challenges the type of art hanging in many galleries. Massive, imposing, uncomfortable and up close, Grassfire offers many possible interpretations; a glimpse of the past yet, timeless and relevant to now. The arts need to be in our current social revolution. Forget the galleries of yesterday, embrace discomfort and radical growth.
Jenna Rose Sands is a London-raised and based Nehiyaw, Anishinaabe, and Lenape writer and artist. She is the creator of Atrocities Against Indigenous Canadians for Dummies, a zine series created to highlight the often dark history of Indigenous people, as well as the rich diversity of Indigenous cultures in Canada. Jenna Rose studied Photography at Fanshawe College.