A man with an “I am Canadian” shirt gets burned at the stake in Diana Thorneycroft’s exhibit at the Ottawa School of Art (Photo: Lauren Blackburn)
When Wayne Gretzky left Canadian hockey to play for the Los Angeles Kings, some Canadians called him a traitor. Does this make him, metaphorically of course, a Canadian martyr?
Artist Diana Thorneycroft brings a modern Canadian perspective to the age-old subject of martyrdom with her Canadiana Martyrdom series on display at the Ottawa School of Art until Nov. 22.
One of the pieces in the series depicts Gretzky tied to a tree and surrounded by lions ready to tear him apart; it is called Martyrdom of the Great One. It’s gruesome, sure, but it is not the first time a painting has depicted this scene.
St. Ignatius was fed to the lions, an event that is often depicted in artwork, along with the violent deaths of countless other martyrs.
Thorneycroft’s series takes Canadian culture and mixes it in with a common theme in human culture: violence.
Fascinated by the prevalent theme of violence in popular culture, Thorneycroft said she decided to create a series depicting recognizable Canadian faces being subjected to various bloody ends.
“Human beings love violence,” she said. “Violence is a form of entertainment.”
Each separate diorama uses a classic Canadian setting with various dolls and children’s toys representing the scene’s characters.
“It first began with taking cliché Canadian landscapes,” said Thorneycroft when asked about the process of creating each photograph.
After the scene is set, the characters are added.
“We have, within popular culture, some really well known Canadian personalities,” she said, noting that her first victims came from the world of sports. “There are just so many dolls out there to do with hockey!”
Once she had decided on the martyrdom of such Canadian personalities as Gretzky and Don Cherry, Thorneycroft decided that some women needed to be added.
“I thought I should martyr as many women as men.”
As a result, the martyrdoms of St. Celine (Dion) and St. Anne (of Green Gables) were created. Pamela Anderson was also considered but didn’t make the final cut.
Despite the controversial nature of the photographs, Thorneycroft said she has no particular expectation of what people will take out of her series.
“I wanted people to feel a mixture of humour and disgust,” she said, adding that as an artist, she only has control of up to 50 per cent of the audience’s experience.
The rest, she said, depends on each individual’s personal experience coming into the exhibit.