By Caitlyn Gerrish – Arts & Culture Editor 

Friday, Oct. 27 marked the opening of Foreman Art Gallery’s second exhibition of the 2023-24 season, titled Marginalia. Artist Celia Perrin Sidarous takes a multimedia approach to the stories that lie on the outskirts of officialized histories, with a special focus, as the Foreman website explains, on “the fragments of memory that, akin to floaters or other optical phenomena, evade or appear tangentially within dominant narratives”. 

The exhibit features three primary art forms; film, photography and artifacts, but as Sidarous explains, the exhibition should not be understood through tangible items but rather as “a poetic essay personified by liminal objects”. By integrating several mediums, Sidarous attempts to simply explore the notion of marginalia without fully grasping it. As gallery curator Gentiane Bélanger puts it, “as if the heart of the work remained elusive and slippery, lurking in a blind spot of consciousness, and on the boundaries or edges of familial memory”. 

Born into an immigrant family, an important aspect of the exhibition involves the exploration of Sidarous’ family heritage, notably her father’s Egyptian familial roots. The artifacts, which include ceramics, bronze casts and archival documents serve as channels to memory and nostalgia. As Bélanger explains in the exhibition booklet, “Time unfolds in a non-linear fashion through a series of simple moments and seemingly banal details.” It is through these everyday moments that this exhibit attempts to uncover and explore the influences that live in the margins of life, but that hold profound meaning nonetheless. Bélanger described the quest and experience of Marginalia as conversational, a way to explore memory through matter. Her takeaway thoughts on this project she hopes imprints on visitors is the “realization that matter constantly acts upon us, forming and transforming us.” 

Foreman Art Gallery is open from Tuesday to Saturday every week, with staff on hand who are happy to discuss and explain any element of the exhibit to visitors. Marginalia runs until Dec. 9 and is free and open to all. 

The exhibit features three primary art forms; film, photography and artifacts, but as Sidarous explains, the exhibition should not be understood through tangible items but rather as “a poetic essay personified by liminal objects”. By integrating several medium, Sidarous attempts to simply explore the notion of marginalia without fully grasping it. As gallery curator Gentiane Bélanger puts it, “as if the heart of the work remained elusive and slippery, lurking in a blind spot of consciousness, and on the boundaries or edges of familial memory”. 

Born into an immigrant family, an important aspect of the exhibition involves the exploration of Sidarous’ family heritage, notably her father’s Egyptian familial roots. The artifacts, which include ceramics, bronze casts and archival documents serve as channels to memory and nostalgia. As Bélanger explains in the exhibition booklet, “Time unfolds in a non-linear fashion through a series of simple moments and seemingly banal details.” It is through these everyday moments that this exhibit attempts to uncover and explore the influences that live in the margins of life, but that hold profound meaning nonetheless. Bélanger described the quest and experience of Marginalia as conversational, a way to explore memory through matter. Her takeaway thoughts on this project she hopes imprints on visitors is the “realization that matter constantly acts upon us, forming and transforming us.” 

Foreman Art Gallery is open from Tuesday to Saturday every week, with staff on hand who are happy to discuss and explain any element of the exhibit to visitors. Marginalia runs until Dec. 9 and is free and open to all.