Book LaunchTalks
Maintenance and Care: A Conversation with Zachary Ayotte & Christina Battle
May 25, 2024
2:00PM (Mountain Time)
Photo: Zachary Ayotte.
Director/Curator: Jenn Jackson
Location
Betty Andrews Recital Hall at MacEwan University
Room 11-150
11110 104 Avenue NW
MacEwan University
Edmonton, AB
T5K 1M9
Maintenance and Care: A Conversation with Zachary Ayotte & Christina Battle
Saturday, May 25, 2024
2:00PM (Mountain Time)
Betty Andrews Recital Hall at MacEwan University
Edmonton, AB
Join us on Saturday, May 25 at the Betty Andrews Recital Hall at MacEwan University for a conversation with Zachary Ayotte and Christina Battle, in celebration of the publication of Lines. In response to an invitation from Christina Battle, Lines invites readers to reflect on the interconnectedness of maintenance and care.
This program is free and open to all, and is presented in partnership with the Mitchell Art Gallery at MacEwan University.
Online Access: The event will be livestreamed and recorded.
The Mitchell Art Gallery (MAG) and the Betty Andrews Recital Hall are located on the main floor of MacEwan University’s Allard Hall. There is paid parking underground with elevator access and a gravel lot behind Allard Hall with ramped sidewalks. There are no stairs to enter into Allard Hall from ground level. The MAG has a wide, open doorway and seating available for those who might need a rest. During the gallery’s public hours there will always be a volunteer or staff member on hand who will answer all questions to the best of their ability.
The Betty Andrews Recital Hall is located across the main atrium from the MAG. The Recital Hall entrance is a wide doorway and the door will be kept open up until the start of the event. A volunteer will be stationed at the door if you have questions or need directions. There is room in the Recital Hall for wheelchairs and shallow stairs between rows of seating.
The staff and volunteers of the Mitchell Art Gallery would like to acknowledge that this is an ongoing effort to make our space more accessible and inclusive. If you have any feedback, questions, or criticism we ask that you reach out to us at mitchellartgallery@macewan.ca.
Participant Bios
Zachary Ayotte
Zachary Ayotte is a photographer and writer. His work is interested in the limits of looking, and in how stories move and perpetuate. With an interest in the book as a format and a container of content, he uses personal perspectives as a way of thinking about social and political systems. Previous publications include, We Eat Together, At the Same Time, I Wish U Were Here, and Notes on Digging A Hole.
Christina Battle
Christina Battle is an artist based in amiskwacîwâskahikan (Edmonton), within the Aspen Parkland: the transition zone where prairie and forest meet. Her practice focuses on thinking deeply about the concept of disaster: its complexity, and the intricacies that are entwined within it. She looks to disaster as a series of intersecting processes including social, environmental, cultural, political, and economic … which are implicated not only in how disaster is caused but also in how it manifests, is responded to, and overcome. Through this research, Battle looks closer to both online models and plant systems for strategies to learn from, and for ways we might help to frame and strengthen such response. Much of this work extends from her recent PhD dissertation (2020) which looked closer to community responses to disaster: the ways in which they take shape, and especially to how artistic and online models might help to frame and strengthen such response.