The Parable of the Boy and the Barren Olive Tree

"The Parable of the Boy and the Barren Olive Tree" is an introspective journey through an upbringing, both within and without the institution of the Baptist Church.

"The Parable of the Boy and the Barren Olive Tree" by AUArts Alum Joel Matthew Warkentin, BFA '16, Sculpture, is structured as a three-act play, the series of photographs and sculptures investigates the derangement of what the body, mind, and spirit have endured, and how this history affects present platforms surrounding spirituality.

This collection of photographs and sculptures explores distinctive emotional memoirs collected from a young age through adolescence within a religious institution. While created through the metamorphosis of emotional feeling to objectified structure they utilize abstract language to express specific moments in history. The autobiographical and performative photographs demonstrate these events and their residual effects, while the exhibit in its entirety is an act of transformation: from impressionable, then injured, then the final and continual act of growth.

This exhibition is part of Exposure Photography Festival 2022

2021 Emerging Photographer Of The Year

Each year one artist who has exhibited in the Exposure Emerging Photographers Showcase is selected by the juror to win the Emerging Photographer of the Year Award. The recipient of this prestigious award is given the opportunity to present a solo show at the following year’s Exposure Photography Festival. The award provides the emerging artist with a platform to show their work while furthering their professional practice and building their career within photography. Exposure mentors and supports the artist in developing their vision in the best possible way. Our 2021 juror, Ryan Doherty, Chief Curator of Contemporary Calgary, selected Joel Matthew Warkentin as the 2021 Emerging Photographer of the Year.

Photo by Joel Matthew Warkentin