Oh to Believe in Another World: South African–Canadian Collaboration in Print (2025)
curated by Steven Dixon & Luke Johnson
On view at the Fine Arts Building Gallery, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, May-June 2025
Symposium & Reception May 22, 2025
works by ambar azcorra, James Boychuk-Hunter, Chelsey Campbell, Sean Caulfield, Tamara Deedman, Wally Dion,
Steven Dixon, Karen Dugas, Amanda Forrest Ewanyshyn, Helen Gerritzen, Jon Goodman, Tanya Harnett,
Emily Hayes, Bernd Hildebrandt, Marketa Holtebrinck, Marcel Houston-McIntosh, Liz Ingram, Luke Johnson,
Sarah Judge, Walter Jule, Roxy Kaczmarek, William Kentridge, Sbongiseni Khulu, Marlene MacCallum,
Sarah Madgin, Monique Martin, Mitch Mitchell, Holly de Moissac, Myken McDowell, Olivia Arau McSweeney,
Puleng Mongale, David Morrish, Nasibeh Nasibi, Marilène Oliver, Rowan Pantel, Kelsey Pavier,
Hannah Penney-Duke, Andrea Pinheiro, Matthew Rangel, Maria Rosati, Jillian Ross, Daniela Schlüter, Marc Siegner,
Cinthia Sifa Mulanga, Angela Snieder, J. Eric Steenbergen, Madeline Sturm, Saba Tensae, Alex R.M. Thompson, Zhané Warren, Bevan de Wet, and Al Young
curated by Steven Dixon & Luke Johnson
On view at the Fine Arts Building Gallery, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, May-June 2025
Symposium & Reception May 22, 2025
works by ambar azcorra, James Boychuk-Hunter, Chelsey Campbell, Sean Caulfield, Tamara Deedman, Wally Dion,
Steven Dixon, Karen Dugas, Amanda Forrest Ewanyshyn, Helen Gerritzen, Jon Goodman, Tanya Harnett,
Emily Hayes, Bernd Hildebrandt, Marketa Holtebrinck, Marcel Houston-McIntosh, Liz Ingram, Luke Johnson,
Sarah Judge, Walter Jule, Roxy Kaczmarek, William Kentridge, Sbongiseni Khulu, Marlene MacCallum,
Sarah Madgin, Monique Martin, Mitch Mitchell, Holly de Moissac, Myken McDowell, Olivia Arau McSweeney,
Puleng Mongale, David Morrish, Nasibeh Nasibi, Marilène Oliver, Rowan Pantel, Kelsey Pavier,
Hannah Penney-Duke, Andrea Pinheiro, Matthew Rangel, Maria Rosati, Jillian Ross, Daniela Schlüter, Marc Siegner,
Cinthia Sifa Mulanga, Angela Snieder, J. Eric Steenbergen, Madeline Sturm, Saba Tensae, Alex R.M. Thompson, Zhané Warren, Bevan de Wet, and Al Young
During the summer of 2020, the unique circumstances of the unfolding pandemic led to an ongoing collaboration between Master Printer Jillian Ross and the printmaking division at the University of Alberta.
Canadian-born Jillian Ross was the master printer of the David Krut Workshop (DKW) in Johannesburg from 2003 to 2020, working with over 100 South African and international artists, most notably William Kentridge. Having relocated to Canada during the early months of the pandemic, the possibilities of working in photogravure allowed Ross and Kentridge to continue their creative relationship from afar. Contact was made with Steven Dixon, artist and technical demonstrator in the Department of Art and Design at the University of Alberta, and an expert in the production of copperplate photogravure. Over the next four summers, Ross and Dixon worked on a number of print projects by William Kentridge, including two large-scale photogravure prints which are among the largest ever made.
In addition to Kentridge, Ross has expanded the group of artists she is working with to include Puleng Mongale and Cinthia Sifa Mulanga, based in South Africa, and Wally Dion, a Canadian artist of Saulteaux ancestry currently based in New York, each of whom has been able to explore photogravure through her collaborative efforts.
Oh to Believe in Another World: South African–Canadian Collaboration in Print brings together a broad selection of artworks made through the process of photogravure in celebration of these collaborative relationships.
Canadian-born Jillian Ross was the master printer of the David Krut Workshop (DKW) in Johannesburg from 2003 to 2020, working with over 100 South African and international artists, most notably William Kentridge. Having relocated to Canada during the early months of the pandemic, the possibilities of working in photogravure allowed Ross and Kentridge to continue their creative relationship from afar. Contact was made with Steven Dixon, artist and technical demonstrator in the Department of Art and Design at the University of Alberta, and an expert in the production of copperplate photogravure. Over the next four summers, Ross and Dixon worked on a number of print projects by William Kentridge, including two large-scale photogravure prints which are among the largest ever made.
In addition to Kentridge, Ross has expanded the group of artists she is working with to include Puleng Mongale and Cinthia Sifa Mulanga, based in South Africa, and Wally Dion, a Canadian artist of Saulteaux ancestry currently based in New York, each of whom has been able to explore photogravure through her collaborative efforts.
Oh to Believe in Another World: South African–Canadian Collaboration in Print brings together a broad selection of artworks made through the process of photogravure in celebration of these collaborative relationships.
For decades, print artists affiliated with the University of Alberta have used photographic techniques in their work, engaging with the possibilities these methods enable, in conversation with global artistic dialogues. The first room of the exhibit includes works by distinguished participants in this history, professor emeritus Walter Jule and alumna Karen Dugas, alongside the works by photogravure experts David Morrish, Marlene MacCallum, Jon Goodman, Steven Dixon, and Zhané Warren. Works by Dixon, Warren, Alex R.M. Thompson, and Luke Johnson represent the platemaking team that has worked with Ross since 2020.
The second room of the gallery features works by William Kentridge made in 2020 and 2021 using photogravure and direct gravure enabled by Ross's collaboration with this team. Original drawings, working proofs, colour tests, and other exhibit materials visually unpack the process of making a photogravure print from image to plate to final edition.
The second room of the gallery features works by William Kentridge made in 2020 and 2021 using photogravure and direct gravure enabled by Ross's collaboration with this team. Original drawings, working proofs, colour tests, and other exhibit materials visually unpack the process of making a photogravure print from image to plate to final edition.
During the platemaking process of Eight Vessels in 2020, Jillian Ross and Steven Dixon discussed the prospect of creating a truly large-scale photogravure, based on a drawing which William Kentridge had recently completed in his studio, and which forms an integral component of his film series Self-Portrait as a Coffee-Pot. Test plates were made starting in 2020, and by 2022 Ross and Dixon were ready to begin production on the ambitious print. Titled The Old Gods Have Retired, the twenty-seven copper plates used to print the image, weighing over 200kg, were shipped from Edmonton to Johannesburg, where Ross travelled in August of 2022 to work with Kentridge and the printing team at David Krut Workshop to finalize the edition. In addition to the large-scale Old Gods, Ross and Dixon worked on a group of smaller prints that summer which are also on view in the third room of the gallery: the direct gravure prints Beckmann's Self-Portrait with Jam Jar and Scissors, Tree (17), and Tree (64), and the photogravure The Mirror Will Not Help.
Also displayed in this space are the works of Puleng Mongale, a South African digital collage artist based in Durban, and Cinthia Sifa Mulanga, a Congolese-born artist based in Johannesburg, best known for her figurative paintings. Their works in photogravure and direct gravure were co-published by Jillian Ross Print and Latitudes Online between 2021 and 2022.
In the fourth room of the gallery space are works by Ross's large network of collaborators. From South Africa these collaborators include Zhané Warren, Bevan de Wet, and the printing team at David Krut Workshop, including master printers Sbongiseni Khulu, Roxy Kaczmarek, and Kim-Lee Loggenberg-Tim, as well as Sarah Judge and Jesse Shepstone. From Canada, in addition to the platemaking team, Ross has worked with ambar azcorra, Rowan Pantel, and Saba Tensae in the creation of works on view.
From April through August of 2024, the Remai Modern in Saskatoon partnered with Jillian Ross Print on an exhibit which brought Ross’s studio into the museum. During those five months, a rotation of printers assisted Ross with the editioning of several works by William Kentridge and Wally Dion in the museum space on full view to the public. Luke Johnson and Alex R.M. Thompson joined from Alberta, along with Sarah Madgin from Vancouver and Marketa Holtebrinck from Toronto. The Saskatoon-based team included Monique Martin, who was among those who assisted in setting up the studio at the museum, and printers including Kelsey Pavier, Hannah Penney-Duke, Marcel Houston-McIntosh, and Nasibeh Nasibi. Houston-McIntosh and Penney-Duke have continued to work with Ross on the editioning of these ambitious projects, among other new and ongoing collaborations.
Also displayed in this space are the works of Puleng Mongale, a South African digital collage artist based in Durban, and Cinthia Sifa Mulanga, a Congolese-born artist based in Johannesburg, best known for her figurative paintings. Their works in photogravure and direct gravure were co-published by Jillian Ross Print and Latitudes Online between 2021 and 2022.
In the fourth room of the gallery space are works by Ross's large network of collaborators. From South Africa these collaborators include Zhané Warren, Bevan de Wet, and the printing team at David Krut Workshop, including master printers Sbongiseni Khulu, Roxy Kaczmarek, and Kim-Lee Loggenberg-Tim, as well as Sarah Judge and Jesse Shepstone. From Canada, in addition to the platemaking team, Ross has worked with ambar azcorra, Rowan Pantel, and Saba Tensae in the creation of works on view.
From April through August of 2024, the Remai Modern in Saskatoon partnered with Jillian Ross Print on an exhibit which brought Ross’s studio into the museum. During those five months, a rotation of printers assisted Ross with the editioning of several works by William Kentridge and Wally Dion in the museum space on full view to the public. Luke Johnson and Alex R.M. Thompson joined from Alberta, along with Sarah Madgin from Vancouver and Marketa Holtebrinck from Toronto. The Saskatoon-based team included Monique Martin, who was among those who assisted in setting up the studio at the museum, and printers including Kelsey Pavier, Hannah Penney-Duke, Marcel Houston-McIntosh, and Nasibeh Nasibi. Houston-McIntosh and Penney-Duke have continued to work with Ross on the editioning of these ambitious projects, among other new and ongoing collaborations.
The second floor of the gallery features photogravure works by William Kentridge made in 2023 and 2024. The platemaking at the University of Alberta began early in 2023 with the works Procession I and II, alongside the four Studio Self Portraits. These self portraits are complimented in the gallery by an earlier linocut self-portrait by Kentridge from the collection of the University of Alberta Museums.
The summer of 2023's major focus, however, was the creation of numerous plates related to Kentridge's opera The Great Yes, The Great No. Set aboard the 1941 voyage of the Capitaine Paul-Lemerle from Marseilles to Martinique, with a passenger list of artists, intellectuals, and revolutionaries fleeing Vichy France, the opera proceeds to blend fact with fiction as Kentridge adds to this historical list a host of figures from across time and space. The two prints on view, the large-scale How to Explain Who I Was and smaller My Father is a Tree in a Forrest of Fathers II, stand in for a whole series of works utilizing photogravure and photopolymer intaglio to explore imagery related to the opera's setting and themes.
Also on view in this space are the four works in Wally Dion's prairie braids print series from 2023, which feature variations defined by colour and the presence or absence of an embossed target over the photogravure image. Dion and Ross's collaborative relationship continues, most recently on a series of photopolymer intaglio prints featuring the same model as in prairie braids. Working together at the Remai Modern in July of 2024, Dion and Ross experimented with numerous colour and material variations of the image, which Dion has finished through a process of collage and quilting, resulting in multiple unique works to date. In the spring of 2025, Dion started work with Ross on a new, large scale print utilizing photopolymer intaglio.
In the last room of the exhibit is a salon of works using photo-intaglio methods by University of Alberta faculty, staff, students and alumni. The majority of works on view were created utilizing photogravure, with plates made in direct collaboration between the artists and Steven Dixon, Luke Johnson, and Marlene MacCallum. Several prints in this room represent works freshly printed in 2025, just prior to the exhibit, showing the ongoing interest and involvement with photogravure among print artists in Edmonton.
The summer of 2023's major focus, however, was the creation of numerous plates related to Kentridge's opera The Great Yes, The Great No. Set aboard the 1941 voyage of the Capitaine Paul-Lemerle from Marseilles to Martinique, with a passenger list of artists, intellectuals, and revolutionaries fleeing Vichy France, the opera proceeds to blend fact with fiction as Kentridge adds to this historical list a host of figures from across time and space. The two prints on view, the large-scale How to Explain Who I Was and smaller My Father is a Tree in a Forrest of Fathers II, stand in for a whole series of works utilizing photogravure and photopolymer intaglio to explore imagery related to the opera's setting and themes.
Also on view in this space are the four works in Wally Dion's prairie braids print series from 2023, which feature variations defined by colour and the presence or absence of an embossed target over the photogravure image. Dion and Ross's collaborative relationship continues, most recently on a series of photopolymer intaglio prints featuring the same model as in prairie braids. Working together at the Remai Modern in July of 2024, Dion and Ross experimented with numerous colour and material variations of the image, which Dion has finished through a process of collage and quilting, resulting in multiple unique works to date. In the spring of 2025, Dion started work with Ross on a new, large scale print utilizing photopolymer intaglio.
In the last room of the exhibit is a salon of works using photo-intaglio methods by University of Alberta faculty, staff, students and alumni. The majority of works on view were created utilizing photogravure, with plates made in direct collaboration between the artists and Steven Dixon, Luke Johnson, and Marlene MacCallum. Several prints in this room represent works freshly printed in 2025, just prior to the exhibit, showing the ongoing interest and involvement with photogravure among print artists in Edmonton.
Oh to Believe in Another World: Selections from the collection of the University of Alberta Museums
a complimentary display of prints selected by Luke Johnson from the collection of the University of Alberta Museums, by alumni and past visiting artists of the University of Alberta utilizing photo-intaglio methods, on view in the UofA Print Study Centre during the opening weekend symposium
works on view by James Boychuk-Hunter, Warrington Colescott, Jennifer Dickson, Kyla Fischer, Doris Freadrich,
Carl Heywood, Ryoji Ikeda, Davida Kidd, Bea Maddock, Tadayoshi Nakabayashi, Krystyna Piotrowska, Anna Szul, Akiko Taniguchi, Tracy Templeton, Stephen Williams
a complimentary display of prints selected by Luke Johnson from the collection of the University of Alberta Museums, by alumni and past visiting artists of the University of Alberta utilizing photo-intaglio methods, on view in the UofA Print Study Centre during the opening weekend symposium
works on view by James Boychuk-Hunter, Warrington Colescott, Jennifer Dickson, Kyla Fischer, Doris Freadrich,
Carl Heywood, Ryoji Ikeda, Davida Kidd, Bea Maddock, Tadayoshi Nakabayashi, Krystyna Piotrowska, Anna Szul, Akiko Taniguchi, Tracy Templeton, Stephen Williams
Symposium:
Oh to Believe in Another World: Exploring Photo-printmaking, Photogravure, and Creative Collaboration
Thursday May 22, 2025 | 1-9 p.m.
Schedule of Events:
1-2 p.m. | Panel
Presentations on photo-printmaking, photogravure, and the intersections of photo with traditional methods in print
Panel speakers:
Walter Jule (Professor Emeritus, University of Alberta)
Marlene MacCallum (Honorary Research Professor, Grenfell Campus, Memorial University)
Luke Johnson (Exhibit Co-Curator)
2-3 p.m. | Coffee/Tea reception & Print Study Centre Visits
Print Study Centre visits featuring a curated selection of prints by alumni and international artists utilizing photo-intaglio methods.
3-5 p.m. | Exhibition Tour
Curatorial tour of Oh to Believe in Another World, led by Jillian Ross, Master Printer, and Steven Dixon, Exhibit Co-Curator and Technician, Printmaking Area, University of Alberta.
7-9 p.m. | Evening Reception
Oh to Believe in Another World: Exploring Photo-printmaking, Photogravure, and Creative Collaboration
Thursday May 22, 2025 | 1-9 p.m.
Schedule of Events:
1-2 p.m. | Panel
Presentations on photo-printmaking, photogravure, and the intersections of photo with traditional methods in print
Panel speakers:
Walter Jule (Professor Emeritus, University of Alberta)
Marlene MacCallum (Honorary Research Professor, Grenfell Campus, Memorial University)
Luke Johnson (Exhibit Co-Curator)
2-3 p.m. | Coffee/Tea reception & Print Study Centre Visits
Print Study Centre visits featuring a curated selection of prints by alumni and international artists utilizing photo-intaglio methods.
3-5 p.m. | Exhibition Tour
Curatorial tour of Oh to Believe in Another World, led by Jillian Ross, Master Printer, and Steven Dixon, Exhibit Co-Curator and Technician, Printmaking Area, University of Alberta.
7-9 p.m. | Evening Reception
symposium panel and exhibition tour, photos by ambar azcorra
Exhibit Curators: Steven Dixon & Luke Johnson
Symposium Organizer: Sean Caulfield
Fine Arts Building Gallery Manager: April Dean
Graphic Design: Sue Colberg
Exhibit Photography: James Boychuk-Hunter & Luke Johnson
Loans to the exhibit courtesy Steven Dixon, Jillian Ross Print, the University of Alberta Museums, David Krut Projects, and the artists. The exhibition symposium received support from the Kule Institute for Advanced Study.
Further information about works published by Jillian Ross Print can be found on their website.
Symposium Organizer: Sean Caulfield
Fine Arts Building Gallery Manager: April Dean
Graphic Design: Sue Colberg
Exhibit Photography: James Boychuk-Hunter & Luke Johnson
Loans to the exhibit courtesy Steven Dixon, Jillian Ross Print, the University of Alberta Museums, David Krut Projects, and the artists. The exhibition symposium received support from the Kule Institute for Advanced Study.
Further information about works published by Jillian Ross Print can be found on their website.