Chimento Contemporary is pleased to co-present the first solo exhibition of Talia Shipman’s multidisciplinary works with Back Gallery Project from Vancouver. Combining elements of photography, video, and installation, Meet Me In The Middle focuses on pressing social issues in a visually robust manner. Through this project, Shipman is able to construct a necessary conversation about the state of our precarious world.

Meet Me In The Middle imagines a post-apocalyptic future where water and crucial resources have been replaced by consumer goods. Taking note of the capitalist drive to acquire and absorb popular culture through new technologies, Shipman offers a confluence of video and photographic composites that are further enhanced by myriad sculptures of vibrant turquoise cacti. Drawing on the color of these statuesque plants as a metaphor for water and its inherent fluidity and transformative properties, the artist explores the environmental impact of human activity while also commenting on her own quest for identity in the face of global crisis.

Talia Shipman was raised in Vancouver and currently splits her time between Los Angeles and Toronto. She received her BFA in Photography from Ryerson University, School of Image Arts. Her installations and images are part of several prominent collections including permanent public projects Blue Space (Water Wall) (2015) and Water is Taught by Thirst (Submerge) (2015) on display in Toronto's Bay Street Financial District, and Flowand Steady (2017) at Toronto’s new Humber River Hospital. Meet Me In The Middle was recently acquired by the HBC Global Collection as a permanent installation in New York. Additionally, Shipman is a multi-year recipient of the Magenta Foundation Flash Forward emerging photographer award, and has exhibited widely in Canada, the US.

Back Gallery Project (BGP) has been “backing” the growth and development of emerging and mid-career artists at its current location since 2013. Serving the local and international art scene, the BGP promotes artist initiatives invested in shaping the economies of art and culture. Located in the heart of Strathcona, the gallery is uniquely positioned to create dialogues with the artists and cultural engineers who call the neighborhood home.

Founder and director Monica Reyes has been a longstanding figure in the Vancouver art scene having served as Vice President of the Contemporary Art Society of Vancouver and since 2016 sits in the Board of Latincouver. Reyes is committed to investing in art that gives voice to the cultural diversity of the Pacific Northwest.