MoCL Presents: “The heart is not always a metaphor”, A Solo Exhibition by sophia bartholomew
Schedule
Thu Oct 02 2025 at 05:00 pm to 08:00 pm
UTC-07:00Location
750 Fairfield Rd., Victoria, BC, Canada, British Columbia V8W 2H1 | Victoria, BC
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Join us for sophia bartholomew's exhibition “The heart is not always a metaphor”, opening at The Ministry of Casual Living in Victoria on September 29 (6-8PM).Two years ago, sophia walked through end of life with their partner, Richard. In the weeks and months after Richard's death, they revisited places where the two of them used to go walking and they collected the abundant black walnuts that littered the ground, using the walnut husks to dye old cotton bedsheets.
In “The heart is not always a metaphor” these dyed bedsheets are installed alongside a series of photos mounted in black walnut frames – reciprocal portraits that Richard and sophia took of each other during the last year of Richard's life. Whenever they remembered to, one of them would take a photo and then hand the camera off to the other person, pausing to focus the lens. In some of the photos the pair seem content or happy, in others upset or preoccupied, and in still others ambiguous, unreadable, often blinking or out of focus.
The phrase “The heart is not always a metaphor” is borrowed from Ross Gay’s “The Book of Delights” –– a book that investigates sorrow as an unknowable wilderness found within each of us, and the many confounding ways that “the intolerable makes life worthwhile”.
The artist gratefully acknowledges grants from the Ontario Arts Council and the Government of Ontario, which helped them to realize this body of work.
GALLERY HOURS: Thursdays (5-8PM), Saturdays (1-4PM) until October 23rd.
ADDRESS: 750 Fairfield Rd. Wheelchair accessible through East Entrance.
COST: Free/By donation.
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Where is it happening?
750 Fairfield Rd., Victoria, BC, Canada, British Columbia V8W 2H1Event Location & Nearby Stays:
