Vikky Alexander: The Woodlanders

Vikky Alexander: The Woodlanders
Opening reception: Saturday, September 12 2:00 – 5:00 p.m.

TrépanierBaer is delighted to open its 2026/2027 season with The Woodlanders, a solo exhibition by internationally acclaimed Canadian artist Vikky Alexander.

A pioneering figure in appropriation art and photo conceptualism, Vikky Alexander has spent more than four decades examining how images of architecture, nature, beauty, and luxury shape desire. Her latest series, The Woodlanders (2025), brings idealized female figures drawn from fashion imagery into dense, dreamlike woodland settings. Comprising thirteen (13) images in an edition of three, (3) the series marks a compelling reversal. In earlier works, Alexander introduced artificial nature into architectural interiors; in The Woodlanders, the human figure appears to be drawn back into the landscape, almost overtaken by nature. Yet this landscape remains mediated, assembled through reproduction and collage rather than encountered as pristine wilderness. The title resonates with Thomas Hardy’s novel The Woodlanders, in which human relationships, desire, class, and social ambition unfold within an ancient woodland community. It suggests figures who belong to, emerge from, or are psychologically transformed by the forest.

“In 2024 I read two books consecutively, a biography of the late designer, Alexander McQueen and Thomas Hardy’s ‘The Woodlanders”. The selection was serendipitous but also, as it turns out, fortunate. Looking through books of photographs of McQueen’s designs, I noticed that he often made pieces that were animal and bird like, transforming the mannequins into strange creatures. Hardy’s novel, set in a rural hamlet in the south of England, introduces characters that appear and disappear into the woods, somewhat of a ‘hide and seek’. In this series, sourcing my inspiration from a selection of McQueen’s designs, I have re-imagined them with collage as characters in the Hardy novel. The titles of the thirteen works are a combination of the names of some of McQueen’s friends and models, with the names of Hardy’s female protagonists. These women do not turn their back on nature but emerge in material and immaterial ways through holes and tangles — both literal techniques in my collage process and metaphors for the liminal spaces my figures inhabit. The holes I cut become portals of transformation, while the tangles of collage mirror the dense undergrowth where Hardy’s characters disappear and the complex construction of McQueen’s sculptural garments.” –  Vikky Alexander

Vikky Alexander lives and works in Montréal. Her work is held in major museum, private, and corporate collections throughout Canada, the US, and Europe. This is Vikky Alexander’s 13^th exhibition at TrépanierBaer.

The works are available for purchase and can be previewed in person at the gallery. Please contact TrépanierBaer at info@tbg1.com or 403-244-2066 for more information.