PENDING
Allysa Pierre, Amanda Kachadoorian Jordi, Dana Qaddah, Deon Feng, Sonny Assu
August 6–October 1, 2026
Opening reception: Thursday, August 6, 6:00-8:00 p.m.
Public critique with Michael Turner: Wednesday, August 19, 1:00 p.m.
Access Gallery
222 E Georgia St.
Tuesday–Friday: 12:00–5:00 p.m.
Saturday: 12:00–5:00 p.m.
Sunday–& Monday: Closed
Curated by Cynthia MacMillan
The term “pending” evokes a state of suspension, anticipation and becoming. Across the exhibition, the material contradictions present in each of the artworks pose prompts and questions that are up in the air—pending.
What does it mean to cast a discarded wood offcut in bronze?
Why does a fan direct me toward a study of a limestone quarry?
Where are the mirrors made? Where am I made or what have I been made into?
What happens when the labour of the art preparator becomes an object of display?
Will our suitcases make it … filled with concrete?
What does it mean to return home?
Works by Sonny Assu, Deon Feng (BA Visual Art ‘23), Amanda Kachadoorian Jordi (current MFA Visual Art student), Allysa Pierre and Dana Qaddah each produce an affect of suspense that develops into a shared field of inquiry. Together, the works open a dialogue about the entanglements of territory, labour and the accumulation of value, approaching these questions from distinct points of departure. The exhibition examines an in-between: the latent suspended space or condition between state and capital. Placing the in-between on hold is to map points of contact between the market and colonial structures, and to then consider concrete resistance through a reflection on belonging.
PENDING attempts to map tension and study how potential forms of resistance might emerge from considering the status of belonging at moments where contradictions become legible.
Presented with support from the Audain Endowment for Curatorial Studies through the Department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory in collaboration with the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery at the University of British Columbia.
