Derek Michael BessantThe End of Language

Sometimes when we recount memories of moments that are completely unrelated, we feel the urge to connect them, masking the disconnections between them, even if somewhere instinctively we know that they don't necessarily belong together. What if a series of fragmentary stories overheard by chance from a stranger were to be connected in this way, as a kind of meeting point between the faces of the tellers and the observer? Would this juxtaposition of characters lead to the unfolding of a new story?

The idea for the exhibition was inspired by a sad newspaper story the artist had read about a couple who had simply disappeared with their car on a high mountain road between Alberta and British Columbia in western Canada. The police investigation was still inconclusive: only the couple's abandoned and damaged vehicle was found on the side of the road... The artist had no important information or conclusive evidence, only the names of the missing persons, but decided to interview those who might have met the couple on their journey. The petrol station attendant. The waitress at the truck stop. A hitchhiker who might have been hired. A motel doorman. A store clerk. A busload of school kids who might have seen them on the same road. A guard at the national park. A woman collecting pine cones at a rest stop. The cashier at the information booth. And others...

These suspects or witnesses - who may well unknowingly reveal seemingly insignificant pieces of information that could lead to solving the mystery and reconstructing the story - are people like us. Familiar, but strangers. The combinations of thirty-two personality sketches surrounding a strange event that happened - both revealing and covering up possible clues - engage the visitor in solving the mystery and encourage them to piece together their own fictional story.