Divya Mehra

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Please join us for a talk at the gallery between artist Divya Mehra and writer and critic Aruna D'Souza on the occasion of Mehra's exhibition *~~Live Laugh Love~~*.

### RSVP
Registration for this event is required. Secure your place [here](https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/in-conversation-divya-mehra-aruna-dsouza-tickets-1110703898259).

### Accessibility
ASL interpretation is available on request. Requests can be accommodated up to 5 days in advance. Please contact [learning@cagvancouver.org](mailto:learning@cagvancouver.org) to book or for more information.

### Biographies
Aruna D’Souza writes about modern and contemporary art, intersectional feminisms, and diasporic aesthetics. Her work appears regularly in 4Columns, The New York Times, and in numerous artist’s monographs and exhibition catalogues. *Whitewalling: Art, Race, and Protest in 3 Acts* was named one of the best art books of 2018 by the New York Times. Recent editorial projects include Linda Nochlin’s *Making It Modern: Essays on the Art of the Now* and Lorraine O’Grady’s *Writing in Space 1973-2018*; she co-curated the retrospective “Lorraine O’Grady: Both/And” at the Brooklyn Museum in 2021. She is the recipient of the 2021 Rabkin Prize for art journalism and a 2019 Andy Warhol Foundation Art Writers Grant. She was appointed the Edmond J. Safra Visiting Professor at the National Gallery of Art in 2022, and the W.W. Corcoran Professor of Social Engagement at the Corcoran School of Art, George Washington University, in 2022-2023. Her most recent book, *Imperfect Solidarities* was published in 2024.

Divya Mehra is known for her meticulous attention to the interaction of form, medium and site. Her works are a reminder of the complex realities of displacement, loss and oppression. Mehra’s work has been exhibited, screened and commissioned by Frieze Sculpture, Los Angeles; Creative Time, New York; MoMA PS1, New York; Queens Museum of Art, New York; MASS MoCA, North Adams, MA; CCA Wattis Institute, San Francisco; Nuit Blanche, Toronto; and the Embassy of Canada in Washington, D.C. She has been featured in publications such as the New York Times, Times of India, ArtAsiaPacific, Hyperallergic, The Globe and Mail, and The Washington Post. Mehra’s work is in numerous public collections, including the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; Global Affairs Canada; and the MacKenzie Art Gallery, Regina. She is the recipient of the 2022 Sobey Art Award. Mehra lives and works in Seattle.

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Aruna D’Souza & Divya Mehra

In Conversation

Please join us to celebrate the opening of CAG's fall 2024 exhibition: *Divya Mehra: ~~Live Laugh Love~~*.

All ages welcome. Cash bar.

### RSVP
No advance registration required.

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Fall 2024

Opening Reception

The work of Divya Mehra melds critical precision with biting wit to produce disarming, deceptively complex meditations on difficult subjects. With a canny visual language and piercing concision, Mehra’s works give unexpected form to trenchant observations on themes spanning racial violence, colonial theft, displacement, and grief, deftly layering nuanced critique with an acerbic humour. 

In  ~~*Live Laugh Love*~~, Mehra presents a pair of new works aimed at the social landscape of the Pacific Northwest. On the walls of the B.C. Binning Gallery, a monumental monochrome painting anchors the exhibition. Offering a wry critical counterpoint to the work of late American artist Robert Ryman, Mehra renders in white-on-white a racist poster that circulated in suburban Vancouver last year, producing a ghostly space at once seemingly empty and laden with the ways whiteness operates, occupies and subsumes.

In the gallery opposite, Mehra has constructed a child-sized play structure assembled from nearly 1,000 yoga blocks. Modeled on a castle from Nintendo’s original Super Mario Bros, the sculpture rehearses references familiar to the region — leisure, wellness, safe spaces, tech — while asking to whom the benefits of these cultures might primarily accrue and, more pointedly, who might require safety from whom in this landscape.

*Divya Mehra: ~~Live Laugh Love~~*  is generously supported by the Friends of Divya Mehra.

#### Biography
Divya Mehra (b. 1981, Winnipeg) is known for her meticulous attention to the interaction of form, medium and site. Her works are a reminder of the complex realities of displacement, loss and oppression. Mehra’s work has been exhibited, screened and commissioned by Frieze Sculpture, Los Angeles; Creative Time, New York; MoMA PS1, New York; Queens Museum of Art, New York; MASS MoCA, North Adams, MA; CCA Wattis Institute, San Francisco; Nuit Blanche, Toronto; and the Embassy of Canada in Washington, D.C. She has been featured in publications such as the New York Times, Times of India, ArtAsiaPacific, Hyperallergic, The Globe and Mail, and The Washington Post. Mehra’s work is in numerous public collections, including the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; Global Affairs Canada; and the MacKenzie Art Gallery, Regina. She is the recipient of the 2022 Sobey Art Award. Mehra lives and works in Seattle.

Exhibition Essay Booklet - Divya Mehra - P1.pdf

CAG - Divya  Mehra - Exhibition Guide - Regular Print - Web.pdf

CAG - Divya  Mehra - Exhibition Guide - Large Print - P1.pdf

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Black vinyl text on a white gallery wall leading into an exhibition, introducing the artist “Divya Mehra.” The exhibition title “Live Laugh Love" is written in strikethrough letters.

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The front façade of a castle built from white yoga blocks, resembling a child's play structure. The castle sits in the centre of a gallery and occupies the majority of its space.

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A castle resembling a child's play structure built from white yoga blocks, viewed from the front left. The castle’s top level sits atop a larger ground level with an arched entryway.

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A castle resembling a child's play structure built from white yoga blocks, viewed from the front right. The castle’s top level sits atop a larger ground level with an arched entryway.

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A castle resembling a child's play structure built from white yoga blocks, viewed from the back. The castle’s top level sits atop a larger ground level with an arched entryway.

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"A close-up of parapets along the top of a wall, all made from yoga blocks. "

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"A close-up of a wall built from yoga blocks with two cut out windows. In the lower foreground there are two yoga block parapets visible.  "

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"A close-up of yoga blocks stacked one on top of another to create a wall, resembling a brick wall pattern. "

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" A panoramic view of an empty gallery with white walls and concrete floors. The side walls have white text painted on them, which is difficult to read. On the left, the word “Whites” is visible. "

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"A white gallery wall with a paragraph of white text painted on it, which is difficult to read. The gallery is otherwise empty.  "

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An oblique view of a white gallery wall with a paragraph of white text painted on it, which is difficult to read. The reflection of light makes the top lines of text more visible. 

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An oblique view of a white gallery wall with lines of white text painted on it, which are difficult to read. The reflection of light reveals the phrase “Are you looking for somewhere your children can play.”

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An oblique view of a white gallery wall with lines of white text painted on it. The reflection of light reveals the phrases “spent amongst their own people” and “because they deserve it.”

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"A close-up of a white wall with lines of white text painted on it, which are difficult to read. The reflection of light reveals the word “diversity” in quotation marks below the word “schools.” "

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A white gallery wall with a white text graphic painted on it, which is difficult to read. Above the wall are five windows. The gallery is otherwise empty. 

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An oblique view of a white gallery wall below a row of windows with a white text graphic painted on it, which is difficult to read. The reflection of light reveals the phrase “Whites-only”. 

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A close-up of a white gallery wall below a row of windows with white text painted on it, which is difficult to read. The reflection of light reveals the words “Join us for” at the top of the wall.

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"An oblique view of a white gallery wall with a white text graphic painted on it, which is difficult to read. The reflection of light reveals the word “Whites” arched across the wall. "

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An oblique view of a white gallery wall with a white text graphic painted on it, which is difficult to read. The reflection of light reveals the word "Moms" accross the bottom of the wall. 

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A detail of white text painted on a white wall. The angle of the light hitting the wall reveals the uneven contrast between the text and walls from the camera's point of view.

Divya Mehra

Exhibitions

Talks & Events