While the spoons look alike at first glance, their identities erased, the unique details, emblems and engravings on the handles and bowls emerge upon closer look, evoking a contrast between the individual identity and a shared experience of Blackness.
Originally developed for the Royal Ontario Museum, the art piece was displayed in the ground-breaking exhibit. The travelling exhibition was showcased at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in 2018 and the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia in 2019. Souvenir was featured in Gibson鈥檚 solo show 鈥淎 Grammar of Loss鈥� at the Open Space Victoria centre in early 2020.
This first edition of Souvenir is now part of the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia's permanent collection and is displayed in the exhibit, a collection of a diverse works that confront dominant narratives.
In 2021, Gibson collected another 2000 spoons and created a second edition for MOA鈥檚 Sankofa exhibit.
"I like that Souvenir is 'bookending' the country, disrupting and challenging the colonial histories and the historically white spaces they are located in," says Gibson of the two editions of Souvenir on display. "I'm grateful to be HERE, part of a larger national conversation, showing alongside distinguished and emerging Black and BIPOC artists."
