“Motorvangelism” by Ela Wasney

"Motorvangelism" by Ela Wasney

October 24 - November 9, 2024

The Studio

Opening Reception: Thursday, October 24 at 7pm

ABOUT

Motorvangelism explores religion and language in the compass of rural culture. Country values confront the public through signage, vehicles, and slang. Ideas that are bred inside the home and church and are found outside in the rural landscape. Motorvangelism brings these ideas back to their domestic origin. The found texts and symbols are recontextualized and applied in an ambiguous directive, forcing viewers to stop and engage rather than drive right past. While critiquing the church, its connection to social class, and the masculine underpinnings of the rural west, Motorvangelism seeks to reclaim typecasts and celebrate country culture.

BIO

Ela Wasney is a multidisciplinary artist living and working in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Inspired by the cultural underbelly of rural communities and initially informed by the countryside’s notorious religious roadside advertisements, her work creates an abstract portrait of our pastoral neighbors. Using sculpture and textiles, she repurposes found texts and objects that reflect her upbringing in rural Manitoba, taking the outside inside, and vice versa. Her work sits at the gravel crossroads of mockery/piety, disbelief/faith.