Andrew McLuhan & Noelle Hamlyn: Written Matter | Remembered & Retold

United Contemporary, in partnership with 2gallery (Picton, ON), is pleased to present a unique duo exhibition, which examines modes of communication, and what prompts communication about ourselves, to others. Through their respective practices, Andrew McLuhan and Noelle Hamlyn offer a collaborative enquiry into how observing the “every-day” with new perspectives can inspire words — and in turn, how the written word can inspire new ways of seeing.

At the core of this enquiry are books; familiar and enduring vessels for ideas, memories, and imagination. We observe, we write, we revisit and we retell. From this, we are able to see anew.

Andrew McLuhan is an archivist, thinker, educator, writer and photographer. In 2020, during the height of pandemic lockdowns, he daily travelled the short distance between his home and office on the same property. A walk of no more than a minute. Afforded the time to see what surrounded him, Andrew captured a series of cell phone images – recording the everyday in a new way. Each photograph inspired a poem – thoughts and reflections on this time and his place in it. This collection of poetry and photography, written matters, was published by Revelore Press (Seattle) in early 2021. 2gallery (Prince Edward County), in conjunction with United Contemporary (Toronto), was inspired to use Andrew’s book to create a gallery exhibition of letterpress poetry paired with fine art, photographic prints. Each pair, a window into inspiration and communication. 

Andrew McLuhan is the director of the McLuhan Institute in Prince Edward County, and a global speaker on McLuhanism.

Noelle Hamlyn is an artist, designer and creator. She has an extraordinary ability to observe everyday objects that surround her – and reimagine them. A process that transforms memory, hinting at stories held within these objects. Each becomes a work of art we could not see, or imagine, previously. Whether designing costumes for theatre and dance or contemplating the objects that generations of women used to create clothing, Noelle’s work insists we look at what surround us in a completely new way. We tasked Noelle to create a new series of book works inspired by the collected writings of Marshall McLuhan. To turn one medium into another. The result is an extraordinary exhibition of artwork created from, and inspired by, the written word. 

Noelle Hamlyn lives and creates in Mississauga, ON, and is represented by 2gallery.

This exhibition was jointly produced with 2gallery.

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