{"id":134463,"date":"2025-07-21T16:54:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-21T16:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/interior-news.com\/2025\/07\/21\/manitoba-mixed-race-artist-explores-identity-at-smithers-gallery\/"},"modified":"2025-07-21T16:54:00","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T16:54:00","slug":"manitoba-mixed-race-artist-explores-identity-at-smithers-gallery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/interior-news.com\/2025\/07\/21\/manitoba-mixed-race-artist-explores-identity-at-smithers-gallery\/","title":{"rendered":"Manitoba mixed race artist explores identity at Smithers gallery"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Smithers Art Gallery&#39;s newest exhibit showcases&nbsp;a painter and multi-media artist based in Treaty 2 Territory, Brandon, Manitoba.<\/p>\n<p>Kevin Ei-Ichi deForest&#39;s&nbsp;artwork explores the notion of identity, making his Eurasian heritage visible to inspire discussions about cultural differences.<\/p>\n<p>According to a press release from the gallery,&nbsp;Kevin identifies as an outsider in the Western painting tradition while being driven to make landscapes and family portraits primarily as a loving tribute to his underrepresented mixed-race identity.<\/p>\n<p>His visual language ruptures and fragments images, allowing the viewer to enter the work to complete it. These visual glitches also point to a selective and deteriorating state of personal memory.<\/p>\n<p>Growing up as a &ldquo;mixed race&rdquo; kid in the suburban Canadian prairies, he internalized racism toward&nbsp;his Japanese heritage. Living as an outsider in that respect has given him a critical lens to observe his world that informs his work.<\/p>\n<p>He has exhibited internationally in North America, Europe and Japan, and has participated in residencies in Amsterdam, Holland;&nbsp;Kyoto, Japan; and Brooklyn, N.Y. He is currently an Associate Professor in the Ishkaabatens Waasa Gaa Inaabateg Department of Visual Art at Brandon University.<\/p>\n<p>In a nod to&nbsp;Kevin&rsquo;s lifelong interest in popular music the gallery hosted&nbsp;a pop-up Karaoke experience during the opening on July 15.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The exhibit will be on display until August 9.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kevin Ei-Ichi deForest&#8217;s\u00a0exhibition The Same Sweetness is on display until Aug. 9<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":130,"featured_media":134467,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,20,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-134463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-entertainment","category-top-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.9 - 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