September 27th 2023 – November 23rd 2023, Massy Arts will host, Two Memorials for Residential School Victims, a window installation by Vancouver-based artist and political activist Crabba.

Exhibited in one of the building’s windows, Two Memorials for Residential School Victims meditates on the impact of state-led social intervention, cultural indoctrination, and repair. Antique porcelain Canadiana and Eurocentric memorabilia are sourced, collected, and violently broken through a variety of methods. Then, through slow and dissociative composition, the pieces are recombined to form a glimmering façade upon reclaimed schoolhouse furniture; one chair and one desk.

Here, the artist places imagery of churches, papal figures, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to defy narratives of national identity. Unlike traditional masonry or mosaic, Crabba takes expressionistic liberties with grout application, preparing different viscosities and pigments for experimental, and improvised play. 

This project is supported by the Community Arts Council of Vancouver + First Peoples’ Cultural Council.

The Massy Arts Gallery is located at 23 East Pender Street in Chinatown, Vancouver.
The gallery is open Wednesday to Sunday, 12pm to 5pm.
Entrance is free, and masks are mandatory.

To contact the gallery, send an email to: info@massyarts.com.

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The Artist

Crabba (October 15, 1990) is a Vancouver-based artist, political activist, and designer conceived anonymously through Xytex Corporation and a Scottish-Indigenous mother. Active since the 2010s, their subversive subject matter and interactive sculpture combines found object art with mosaic, executed in a painterly grouting technique. Their works of political and satirical commentary have appeared in magazines, festivals, and galleries worldwide; most recently at the 18th International Architecture Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia (Canada Pavilion, Architects Against Housing Alienation!). Crabba’s work grew out of the Montreal underground scene, which involved partnerships between artists and musicians; having collaborated extensively with electronic music producer K-LC between 2012 and 2018. In spring of 2023, Crabba released their debut skateboard design with Canadian BIPOC-owned company, Bug.

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