Jan Wade

Jan Wade: Soul Power accompanies the highly-anticipated exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery (July 10, 2021 to March 13, 2022). The exhibition is a survey of Vancouver artist Jan Wade’s rich body of work from the 1990s to the present. Jan Wade: Soul Power marks the first solo exhibition by a Black female artist in the 90-year history of the Gallery. The book both honours and documents her compelling but underrecognized practice, which reflects her lived experience as an African Canadian person of mixed cultural heritage.

Comprising mixed media assemblages, paintings, sculptural pieces and textiles made from found or ready-made objects and recycled materials, her art explores the places and practices of her ancestors alongside contemporary political concerns and social movements such as Black Lives Matter. The book will serve as an important resource and record of her more than three decade career. Featuring new photography of works in the exhibition, scholarly essays by prominent artist Deanna Bowen and writer Wayde Compton, and Wade’s own writings, the publication will reveal her important contribution to the history of art making in Vancouver and redress her place in contemporary Canadian art.

This publication was produced on the occasion of Jan Wade: Soul Power on view at the Vancouver Art Gallery July 10, 2021 to March 13, 2022.

The book has a lay-flat binding and the cover comes off to become a poster. 

Contributions by Jan Wade, Deanna Bowen, Wayde Compton, Daina Augaitis, Siobhan McCracken Nixon