Grand Theft Terra Firma

Grand Theft Terra Firma is an exhibition that blends history, gaming, and performance with contemporary art practice to challenge audiences to reconsider the benevolent narratives of settlement to which Canadians are accustomed. The work premiered at the Reach Gallery Museum in Abbotsford, British Columbia, as part of a year-long series of exhibitions that considered notions of decolonization during Canada’s 150th year of confederation. The exhibition is the creation of David Campion and Sandra Shields, an artist couple who have made a practice of appropriating pop literary forms as a means of sharing uncomfortable knowledge. The mechanics of colonization have been a compelling and ongoing theme for them as white artists with personal histories rooted in European expansion. Grand Theft takes a pointed and critical look at the colonization of S’ólh Téméxw, now more commonly known as British Columbia’s Fraser Valley. Since its debut, the exhibition has shown at St. Mary’s University Art Gallery in Halifax, Nova Scotia. In 2019, it will travel to the Diefenbaker Canada Centre in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan; the Art Gallery of Peterborough, Ontario; and Two Rivers Gallery in Prince George, British Columbia. The curator of the exhibition, Laura Schneider, sat down with the artists to reflect on the work and consider its relationship to gaming, performance, and audiences.