Rodney Graham

Born in Abbotsford, British Columbia, in 1949, he studied art history at the University of British Columbia before becoming closely associated with the Vancouver School of photoconceptual art in the 1970s. His practice encompassed photography, film, painting, performance, and music, often drawing on literary, philosophical, and popular-cultural references to construct wry, formally rigorous works. He represented Canada at the Venice Biennale in 1997 with Vexation Island, a 35mm film loop depicting a shipwrecked figure repeating the same futile action. In 2016 he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada. He died in October 2022 at the age of seventy-three.