What Is Welcome? includes works from the Belkin's collection and long-term residency that question the art institution's language, boundaries and potential for change. From performance to works-in-process that effect institutional practices, the artists included operate with, and at the same time counter, the institution to address the what, how and the why of gallery operations.

Last year, the Belkin Art Gallery was delighted to acquire The Time It Takes (2017), the adult-sized cradleboard artwork by Skeena Reece, for our permanent collection. At that time, Reece said that she had always wanted to work with the cradleboard to create a series of photographs that would document her wrapping specific people in the moss bag. This spring, the Belkin Art Gallery will support Reece’s idea to spend time with the people she invites to be wrapped, and will work with Rachel Topham to document the process. The Time It Takes, along with the photographs and video documentation, will be installed in the Gallery to form the foundation of an exhibition.  

This reading room offers resources relating to and exceeding the themes present in the exhibition What Is Welcome?, which includes works from the Belkin’s collection and long-term residency that question the art institution’s language, boundaries and potential for change. From performance to works-in-process that effect institutional practices, the artists included operate with, and at the same time counter, the institution to address the what, how and the why of gallery operations. Artists include Allyson Clay, Claudia Cuesta, Andrea Fraser, ReMatriate Collective, Holly Schmidt, as well as recent acquisitions of work by Skeena Reece, Kika Thorne and Tania Willard.

With the opening of the Image Bank exhibition on June 18, 2021, the gallery is pleased to launch the Outdoor Screen, a 4x2 metre outdoor screen curated with media works from the Belkin’s permanent collection and archive alongside work commissioned specifically for this platform.