New art exhibit reflects on downtown Windsor past and present

A new art exhibit examining the essence of the city's core, from the riverfront to the evolving landscape of the city's downtown, debuted at the Art Gallery of Windsor Thursday.

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The exhibition is the gallery's final program of the year andalso celebrates Windsor's 125th and Canada's 150th anniversary.

Titled, Downtown/s - Urban Renewals Today for Tomorrow: The 2017 Windsor-Essex Triennial of Contemporary Art, the show includes 22 artists working in Windsor, Detroit and parts of southwestern Ontario.

Curator Jaclyn Meloche describes the displays as "cutting edge contemporary art".

"I wanted to take the opportunity as someone who's not from Windsor, new to this downtown, to unpack it. What is this downtown and my new home".

Meloche, who is originally from Ottawa, saidWindsor has seen a significant transformation in the last decade. She hopes the exhibition allows people to reflect on the expanding footprint of Windsor's transforming core.

"I had no idea there was such a vibrant exciting and engaging downtown culture and certainly the downtown hub as it's being marketed is growing and expanding in our region," she said."This is a really pivotal time to be exploring or questioning what is that landscape, what is that concept of urban downtown."

The exhibit features the work of of long-time Windsor landscape painter William Stidworthy. His project, A Historical Downtown,offers insight into Windsor's past and how this region evolved to become contemporary.

Meloche added Stidworthy'sart is just one of many works which allows for critical thinking of several downtown related themes.

"I hope people question where they live and how they engage with their downtown. Whether it's questions about sustainability, environment, questions of landscape even questions about water".

The official exhibit launch will take place on October 20th from 7:30-10:30 p.m.