artist-in-residence finds beauty and hope amidst pandemic lockdowns
“I’m looking at my window as contemplation…a distraction from worry to keep me grounded in the present.”
Local photographer Kevin Grummett says he used a few simple tools, a window, some creativity and prayer to help weather the isolation and the ups and downs he experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic. The outcome is the new art exhibition, “A Room With a View,” featuring photographic canvases that are a celebration of place and hope in moments of darkness. Grummett says that the images in the exhibition represent a new direction for his art, one that tells a story and shares a message.
“This show is about how I coped with isolation. But it’s also about affordable housing and the fact that is a positive thing, something to be proud of and something we need more of. And it is also about my connection to st. bens. ”
“This show is about how I coped with isolation. But it’s also about affordable housing and the fact that is a positive thing, something to be proud of and something we need more of. And it is also about my connection to st. bens.”
Through his connection to saint benedict’s table, Grummett had become aware of an opportunity to move into a new affordable housing complex at 167 Colony St, known as the West Broadway Commons. (The project is a joint-venture project of the University of Winnipeg Community Renewal Corporation2.0 and All Saints Anglican Church.) He moved into his 12th floor apartment in February 2021, during the lonely days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Grummet is an advocate for mental health who has struggled with depression much of his life, and to his delight the move into his new apartment offered welcome inspiration - he turned to photography and art as a way to find the beauty in the ordinary and the everyday. “A Room With A View” features images taken exclusively from Grummett’s apartment window.
Artist Kevin Grummett on the patio at West Broadway Commons, surveying a familiar scene that he’s photographed several times.
The exhibition has been funded, in part, through the 2022 artist-in-residence (AIR) program at saint benedict’s table. Grummett, who has participated in the AIR program with previous art projects as well as this new exhibition, credits it for giving him the courage to grow as an artist and to try new things. He says that his connection with the saint benedict’s table community (including baptism and the Artist Network) has “changed the way I look at things…it is colouring the way I look at the world”.
“A Room With a View” was previously shared as a preview night at All Saints Church on September. 17, 2022. All are welcome to enjoy a new run of the exhibition, with an opening reception on Friday, October 7 at 7pm at Artbeat Studios (4th Floor, 62 Albert Street). The exhibition runs until October 21. More information is available at https://kevingrummettphotography.square.site