CHAPTER FOUR: ARTIFACTS AS STORY
“this was
a couple
months
after my
Dad had
passed
away.”
In 2014 there was an Alex Colville exhibit at the
AGO. It was really, really good. It was after he
passed away and I can’t remember if his wife had
passed away before him, or right after him, but a
lot of his paintings involved her as the subject. It
was such an amazing exhibit, even though I hadn’t
paid much attention to his work before, or knew
a lot about him. I remember the last room of the
exhibit really well. It was a collection of paintings
of his wife and I just remember I started crying. It
was so pretty and beautiful, but so plain and you
could just tell how much he loved his wife. I had
gone to see the exhibit by myself, and this was
a couple months after my Dad had passed away.
There was one painting there and I kept thinking
about my Mom. At the very end of the exhibit
they had a bunch of postcards that all said “Wish
You Were Here” and if you look at the back of it, it
asks you to write a message to Alex Colville if he
was still here and then put it up on the wall with
all the other written ones from visitors. But I took
it and I di dn’t write anything, or maybe I did and
left it there, but I took a second one home with
me to keep. I put it up in my study room at home
in Oshawa and would always want to look at it.
Just stare at it, and think of my Dad. Wherever I’ve
moved to since then, I had to have it on one of my
walls. It was in Utrecht with me where I studied
abroad, and now here in Toronto. It’s battered and
worn, but I take it with me wherever I go.
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