The More Things Change

My sister and I recently had a conversation about a video store we used to visit when we were children. The video store is long gone, replaced by chain stores that rent DVDs, blue rays, and video games. The dark, cramped alley shop has been replaced by a spacious, brightly lit store with a neon sign and has lost all its charm. Yet, whenever I pass through that street, it doesn't usually register that the area has changed. Focused on getting from one place to the next, I don't usually stop to contemplate how this building or that structure wasn't around ten years ago.

Structures, an exhibit featuring works from the AGM's permanent art collection, compels the viewer to do just that: think. In the words of curator Joe Vinski, the exhibit "examines human creation, the resulting imprint on the landscape and the changing way we view that environment." Buildings change over time, and more importantly, how we view these structures changes over time. Take a look at these samples from the exhibit:

George Watkins's Into the Frozen Garden Kariya Park and Mississauga City Hall (top right) shows how Mississauga City Hall looked in 1996, just a bit over a decade ago. Contrast this peaceful wintry scene with present-day Square One and Burnhamthorpe.

Julius Griffith's Farm on Highway 10 (left) is a woodcut from 1992. Again, this image is a far cry from the six-lane traffic jams we usually associate with Highway 10 these days.









Yet some structures do remain. Watkins's 1972 watercolour St. Mary's Star of the Sea (right) depicts a church that still exists in Port Credit. One of the people at the exhibition opening saw the painting and recognized the church immediately, saying that she goes to that church. A look at the parish website shows that the surrounding landscape has changed, but the church itself appears to have lasted.