Chez Nous at GRACe, 144 Gaukel St, Kitchener - May 3 to 31, 2024 (Copy)

A Group Collaboration on the theme of HOME

Opening Reception Friday, May 3, 4-8 pm

Thursdays May 9, 16, 23, 30 — 3 to 6 pm

Saturdays May 4, 11, 18, 25 — 11 am to 2 pm

Victoria Day, May 20 — 11 am to 2 pm

Like many others, I have been disturbed by the crisis of adequate affordable housing in just about every community in Canada, and definitely “at home” in Kitchener. As an artist, I want to use this exhibit as a means to engage with this social challenge.

Father Toby Collins, CR, Pastor of St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Kitchener, guided me through A Better Tent City (ABTC) in December. ABTC is home to a community of residents who are underhoused. There are supervised facilities on site for food, shelter and support.

Again, I am reminded that we are inter-connected and inter-dependent, no matter human, animal, bird, aquatic, insect, vegetation, or microbial.

A hard lesson, to be sure, that we can no longer ignore. While looking for solutions to homelessness is daunting, I am emboldened that crisis is both danger and opportunity.

ManChoi Chow 3/7/23 ManChoi Chow 3/7/23

'Shades of Women' at KPL

Pleased to participate in this exhibition honouring Women, KPL main branch

Opening reception: Thurs, Mar 9, 6-8 pm, 85 Queen Street North, Lower Level

ManChoi Chow 11/18/22 ManChoi Chow 11/18/22

Natural Beauty of Autumn

‘Liminal’ - Chiba (Japanese maple) harbinger of winter in our front garden, Kitchener, ON Canada

Autumn or Fall conjures up for me mixed feelings. Fall is a happy time for me celebrating thanksgiving; many, many birthdays in our extended family; gorgeous beauty in nature; time to put the garden to sleep… I even tolerate Halloween! However, I also feel the loss of the warmth of summer, almost always wondering if I made the most of the short season; coming to terms that I am one year older, and still getting used to the idea of being an “elder”; preparing myself for hibernation till next spring… From the perspective of an art photographer, the season is full of promise, capturing that ‘perfect’ fall scene, discovering the hidden late blooming gems of the garden like tricyrtis, fall crocuses, catkins on the locust and red berries on the aronias, and being blown away by the brilliant burgundy, burnt orange and popping golds of the native shrubs and trees that surround our home. A few personal and family happenings sidetracked me this fall, however I am grateful for life and all the parts of creation that sustain our lives, especially the nurture and love of family. This autumn I have had a much more profound experience of liminality than I can remember, amplifying the realization of transitions and being neither here nor there, in between summer/winter, young/old, wellness/sickness, even life/death. I have renewed my appreciation for who we are and what we have, here and now.

Pioneer Tower, Doon village, Kitchener, ON Canada

‘Golden Sunset’ near Paris ON Canada (available at Uptown Gallery Waterloo until January 2023)

‘Harvest Traditions’, Mennonite families harveting stooks Hawkesville ON Canada

Overlooking Hidden Valley, home to endangered species and precious wet lands and woods, Kitchener ON Canada (available now until Jan 2023)

ManChoi Chow 11/30/21 ManChoi Chow 11/30/21

'Liminal' at Homer Watson House & Gallery opens Dec 4

Being in the liminal space between familiar and uncharted territory can provoke fear of the unknown. Or it may lead to new possibilities otherwise overlooked. Two years of uncertainty, chaos, and the stress of reorienting, coping with a pandemic have brought this home. Being face to face with our inner fears about who we are, our strengths and vulnerabilities, even survival, can cause us to question the core of our identities, and doubt life’s meaning and purpose. Having time to be retrospective about my art from the past few years, liminality emerges as a unifying theme, congruent with my personal conviction to cross thresholds that lead to life beyond what is familiar.