Watershed

June 26 – October 6, 2024
Art Gallery of Peterborough

Mary Anne Barkhouse, John Boyle, Brad Copping, Liz Magor, Stan Olthuis, Amanda Strong, and Olivia Whetung

“In waterways, there is a constant flow of intergenerational knowledge passing through the lakes, rivers, and oceans; every body of water holds a spirit, a history, and informs the land.” – [1] Shannon Webb-Campbell, 2017

The Art Gallery of Peterborough enjoys a prime location on the shores of the Otonabee/Odenabe River at Little Lake, close to a traditional Anishinaabe portage site and just across the water from the spanking new Canadian Canoe Museum.

Now, picture this: the Trent-Severn Waterway, a 386-kilometer stretch connecting Lake Ontario to Georgian Bay, decided to shake things up a bit. It altered the natural flow and positioning of these waters, as if to say, “Let’s make things interesting!” The pièce de résistance, Lock 21—aka the Peterborough Lift Lock—held the title of the highest hydraulic lift lock for years. It operates “like a system of dams constricting, constraining, and controlling what the river can do….”[2]. Translation? It’s a giant aquatic bouncer, blocking the traditional pathways of salmon schools that once sashayed up the Odenabe to Stoney Lake every year.