Unsettled Histories takes as its starting point Rembrandt’s renowned work Christ Crucified Between Two Thieves: The Three Crosses (1653). Vancouver-based artist Dan Starling, piqued by Rembrandt’s experimental approach in erasing, altering and reprinting the copper plate, has created 40 drypoint prints, working from the original to embellish and erase parts of the image. In doing so, Starling has created a shifting narrative through time on the hills outside the walls of Jerusalem, highlighting the instability of occupation and prodding at the foundations of settler-occupied cultural narratives.
Included in the exhibition are 40 drypoint prints from Daniel Starling’s Unsettled Histories series accompanied by a number of Rembrandt etchings held in the City of Burnaby Permanent Art Collection. A cloth-bound hardcover publication featuring essays by Daniel Adleman, Sanem Güvenç, and the artist has been published in conjunction with the exhibition.
