Angels in the Outfield
Meghan Harder
FLEA MARKET GALLERY
St. Catharines Factory Outlet Flea Market
46 Turner Crescent, St. Catharines
On display until Sunday 6 August 2023
This exhibition takes its title from the 1994 family comedy about a young orphan named Roger who prays for his favourite baseball team to win. His prayers seemingly come true when a group of angels start helping the team, but Roger soon realizes that what he truly needs is a family.
Since 2020, Meghan Harder has been collecting images posted publicly on Snapchat in the “outfields” of Southwestern Ontario. Her collection selectively archives quotidian life as documented by everyday people: a foggy bowl of instant ramen; a rearview mirror accessory dangling before a dark highway; the rear end of a dog on a leash. This exhibition expands on the beauty, horror, and palpable desire for transcendence and human connection felt below the topsoil of banality in these images.
Addendum: Shortly after the initial installation of this show, an unknown vandal removed the photograph collection from the wall. NAC staff recovered the work and the artist has reinstalled it for the duration of the show. The damage sustained by the photographs has been left as evidence of this exchange. Please be advised that some viewers may find the content of these photographs inappropriate or offensive.
Meghan Harder is a multidisciplinary artist from St. Catharines. She received her MFA from the University of Guelph and has exhibited at the Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery, Contemporary Art Forum of Kitchener and Area, The Plumb (Toronto), Hunt Gallery (Toronto) and the Lincoln Museum.
http://www.megharder.com/
