Penelope Stewart: Vanitas – Summer Opening Reception

The trans-disciplinary practice of Toronto artist Penelope Stewart encompasses architecture, in situ installation, sculpture, photography, drawing and print. In recent years, she has created a series of installations exploring the beehive metaphor in utopian architecture. Constructing an enfolding, monumental hive out of beeswax in the centre of the Koffler Gallery, Stewart transforms the space into a mysterious forensic ecology – loaded with overgrown floral forms, household objects and debris – coalesced into a grand still life that reminds us of the cycle of life and death and the fragility of our utopian aspirations to transform nature through culture.