A new exhibit at the Ottawa School of Art is putting failed efforts to enforce gun control on blast.
Sayward Johnson’s Studies in Futility uses intricate textile work to condemn gun violence in America and explore what she describes as “futile” efforts to enact change. The exhibit is on display until March 9.
During her artist talk at the exhibit on Feb. 6, Johnson said she was inspired by the American government’s failed efforts to enact stricter gun laws, despite the ongoing cycle of school shootings and gun-related tragedies each year.
Since the Columbine High School shooting in 1999, there have been 428 school shootings in the United States, with 84 occurring in 2024 alone, according to gun control advocacy group Brady United.
“Every time these efforts fail, you feel like nothing’s ever going to change, nothing’s ever going to get better and it’s so frustrating,” Johnson said.
Originally from Danvers, Mass., and a self-proclaimed “knitting addict,” Johnson studied art at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design before moving to Chelsea, Que., where she now lives with her husband and daughter.
Johnson said her latest piece represents the American government’s protection of gun ownership instead of innocent lives.
She said the exhibit expresses her personal frustration with gun violence in America. She said the school shootings prevalentin the media have revealed the intersections of motherhood and politics.
Johnson’s then four-year-old daughter Sigourney experienced a school shooting scare just one year after the deadliest elementary school shooting in American history.
“I was thinking to myself, ‘Well, I’m sure it’s fine, nothing serious. I’m sure it’s not guns because this isn’t the U.S. I live here in Canada,’” Johnson said. “But it turned out there was a gun scare at her school, and it was a fake gun, but nobody knew at the time.”
That lived experience factors into Johnson’s American Security Blankets, which features double-woven copper wire, knitted copper lace and solid copper bullets.
“I’ve always been fascinated by copper, and I became inspired by the work of an artist out of Nova Scotia named Dawn MacNutt, who created some life-size figures that were made of many materials, including copper wire,” Johnson said. “Seeing her work inspired me to try weaving with copper on my own.”
The copper bullets are woven into the wire, and four of the six blankets are treated with a green or black patina, adding a striking colour contrast between the two bare copper blankets.
“There’s so many types of work where everything will just begin with a single thread that you interlace, and whether you’re knitting or weaving, you take a single thread and you create structure, and you can move on from there and do so many different things,” she said.
Another artwork in the exhibit, Daisy Chain, replicates the paper-link chains that decorate classrooms.
Johnson said each chain represents a year from the American school shooting database, and each link has a date of a school shooting from that year.
“I put dates on two pieces, but for the most part, I don’t want to directly reference or use the names of the events because I don’t think that’s fair to anyone involved. We know these horrible things happen, but it’s not my place to name them,” she said.
Exhibit attendee and artist Joyce Westrop said while it’s difficult to talk about something tragic without being sentimental or exploitative, Johnson’s work handles this balance.
“I find that the whole show is an oxymoron because it’s so beautiful but the events are so tragic. Like in Daisy Chain, there’s the emotion of how they’re tied together by the threads,” she said.
I Won’t Bring Guns to School, The New Math and The Onion Headlines all feature text written in graphite pencil. Johnson said the titular words of each work are repeated over and over to represent the repetitive failed efforts to enforce stricter gun laws.
“It’s like we’re banging our heads about the same thing over and over again and it’s like we can’t progress,” Westrop said. “There’s no change.”
Another exhibit attendee Laurie Koensgan said Rupture was the piece that stood out to her most because of the copper usage.
Rupture features hollow vessels knitted with copper wire. Each vessel holds a single copper bullet inside. Mounted on a wall, they project an eerie shadow of the bullets.
Johnson said Rupture is her acknowledgement of the Columbine shooting — an event she said should have brought about meaningful change. Johnson said the copper holds its shape when bent and twisted, much like the lasting impact of gun violence and political inaction in America.
“Copper has a memory, it’s not like knitting with cotton or something that will fall back into place,” she said. “It retains that twist and it goes round and round while I work on that, which is one of the things I love about it — it has all these little properties.”
Koensgan said the piece is more powerful by keeping school shooting victims anonymous and allowing the materials to speak for themselves.
“It speaks to me because of that idea of copper holding memory and emotion,” Koensgan said. “Copper is a very poignant material for this, and the shadows that are cast are so ominous.”
“They remind me of little vessels that are gestating where the bullets cast a shadow.”
Johnson said she hopes people, especially parents, feel moved by her exhibit by showing how politics and parenthood intersect. To her, motherhood is inherently political and art with themes of motherhood carries political significance. Her work not only critiques gun violence but also reflects the fears parents face.
“I want people to feel something, I want people to be moved by it, but I know I’m not going to win any battles with this,” she said.
“But maybe it’s a shared experience for parents, to stand there and tap into fears.”
Studies in Futility is on display at the Ottawa School of Art until March 9. Admission is free.
Featured image by Paula Acevedo/The Charlatan.
