Leaving Canada: The Mennonite Migration to Mexico/Ukraine: Close to Home | Exhibits | MHC Gallery

Exhibits: Leaving Canada: The Mennonite Migration to Mexico/Ukraine: Close to Home

Ukraine: Close to Home

Art by Margaret Shaw-MacKinnon

Leaving Canada: The Mennonite Migration to Mexico

Exhibit produced by Mennonite Heritage Village, the Mennonite Historical Society of Canada & the Plett Foundation

Supported by the Mennonite Heritage Archives

MHCGallery invites the public to two new exhibitions that consider ideas of ‘home’ and the ways we respond when that home becomes fraught with tension and conflict. Ukraine: Close to Home is Winnipeg author and artist Margaret Shaw-MacKinnon’s visual song to her grandparents. As Ukrainian immigrants who came to Canada in the First Wave of immigration in the 1890’s, they experienced an atmosphere of intolerance and discrimination all too common for those who are perceived to be “different”. The hardships experienced by Shaw-MacKinnon’s ancestors held particular resonance for the artist, in light of the current war in Ukraine. Working in a folk-art style, Shaw-MacKinnon incorporates symbols and stories both familiar and striking, exploring important links between the past and present.

Leaving Canada: The Mennonite Migration to Mexico tells the story of the nearly 8000 Mennonites who left Canada in the 1920s to start new lives in Mexico and Paraguay. When ‘home’ became a place where religious, linguistic and educational rights felt pressured, these Mennonites sought to preserve their faith and culture. This travelling exhibition was produced by Mennonite Heritage Village, The Mennonite Historical Society of Canada and The Plett Foundation and is presented with support from Mennonite Heritage Archives.

MHCGallery curator Sarah Hodges-Kolisnyk says that together, these two exhibitions “engage a dynamic conversation about home, tackling competing ideas of coming/leaving; lost/preserved; memory/legacy; determination/assimilation; freedom/citizenship”. She suggests that the emotions and stories echo through the years, ultimately asking viewers to “consider the joy, hope and spirit that shines through trauma and the meaning of calling a place a home”.