Courtney Fairweather *08 – 19 July 2026* Family Remains

Reception: Thursday 09 July at 6:30 p.m.

We accumulate, amass, hoard, and then our descendants are left to deal with the remains.

I’m saddled with the detritus of the generations before me – long dead and forgotten. But their stuff lingers on. I have photos and Valentine cards, invitations, linen doilies, fans, parasols, and bits of a memoir. Collectively, they represent a pristine lifestyle. Family Remains, however, peals back the layers of gentility to suggest the darker side.

It’s easy to romanticize the Belle Epoch, the period of 1871 to 1914. There were rapid advancements in science and technology. The arts flourished and commercial photography became a powerful tool for establishing social status, limited though it was to the wealthy. Saccharine-sweet Valentine cards were valued for their sentimentality and women clutched hand-embroidered linen doilies, ivory fans, and silk parasols. The higher echelons of society entertained one another with teas, dances, and theatricals in their homes and, most coveted of all, in Government House.

But society was brittle and rigid. In Canada, rights were limited to an influential few and beneath the glossy surface, fissures were opening. Social unrest grew as women demanded the right to vote and the Metis, led by Louis Riel, fought for dominion over their land and language rights.

All was not well.