There is a new show ongoing through July and August at the Community pARTners Gallery located in the Yorkton Public Library; 鈥楥ommon Truths鈥� by artist Donna Langhorne.听
Organized and toured through OSAC鈥檚 Arts on the Move program, this exhibition features twenty paintings hung in five groups of four.听听
鈥淢y Common truths series shed no boundaries, many of these subjects听have been swept under the rug for a long time,鈥� Langhorne told Yorkton This Week. 鈥淭his was my way to bring them to light in a way that I could, through my art.听听
鈥淭he audience can expect to see a lot of paintings that touch tough subjects like MMIW, (Missing And Murdered Indigenous Women),听addictions, the 60's scoop, human trafficking, residential schools, suicide, losing youth to gangs, cultural genocide, and more. (It鈥檚) not every day you can witness truth on canvas before your own eyes.鈥澨�
So what is thefavouritepiece for Langhorne who was born in Wadena, but adopted out to LaRonge, where she is still based?听
鈥淭he one painting that really spoke to me in the beginning and even more than ever now because of the discovery of residential children found in unmarked graves on old residential school grounds, is my painting 鈥楽ILENCED鈥�,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t shows the priests "see听no evil, hear no evil, speak听no evil鈥澨齡estures on the residential children. The priests' faces are blurred, it signifies how the church and system protected the priests with no penalty for what they've done and how many of the residential听school children suffered but were听silenced for so long.听听
鈥淚 am a daughter of a residential school survivor and it is still hard for my birth mother to speak about her experience.鈥澨�
The pieces in the show were inspired by the response Langhorne received for earlier works.听
鈥淭he strong response to my first series 鈥楾he Seven Visions鈥� encouraged me to continue examination of these themes,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he Common truths series is like a part two to my 鈥楽even Visions鈥� series.鈥澨�
As for specific inspiration, the self-taught artist, who notes she continues to learn, said she only needed to look at the people.听
鈥淚 look all around me, I see people losing themselves to addiction, losing youth to suicide, people suffering from the 60's school and residential school experiences, losing their language and culture, and so much more,鈥� she said. 鈥淢y art is my voice, I put it on canvas and then let it be heard.鈥澨�
It is a 鈥榲oice鈥� Langhorne learned at an early age.听
鈥淢y听parents always said when I was little, when I was strong enough to hold a pencil, or crayon that鈥檚 when it started,鈥� she said. 鈥淚've always been drawing, sketching, and cartooning my whole life but then I became interested in learning to paint with acrylics back in 2009. I wanted to put real color into my artwork. Tim Burton inspired me very much by his films听since I was a child and still to this day, he is my muse and influences a lot of my artwork.鈥澨�
In terms of medium Langhorne said she prefers to paint with acrylics, but added, 鈥淚 also like working with oil paints for my abstracts.听听
鈥淚 prefer acrylics for most of my work because acrylics dry very fast, very easy to use and it's a lot easier to work with听than oils.鈥澨�
This project received funding assistance from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Saskatchewan Arts Board.
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