Foreword

Silver Bullet: a device that acts as a magical solution

especially : one that instantly solves a long-standing problem

 

The concept of a silver bullet embodies speed and precision, an absolute, instantly effective tool with no ability for error. Its magical powers are compacted into a one inch case travelling in one specific direction. Infamously, this tool doesn’t exist; so we must look elsewhere for a miraculous remedy. Creative practices mimic a journey in search for a magical solution that remains elusive. However, as we are not simply trying to complete an equation, there isn’t necessarily a correct or defined answer to what we search for. The ability to compact the complexities of life into creative thinking and making has the potential to soothe what concerns us, though few would describe the effects as instantaneous or absolute.

 

The 36 artists featured in Silver Bullets, the University of Victoria’s 2024 BFA Undergraduate Exhibition, all explore a means to solve something within them or their environment. Themes present in the exhibition include locating and quantifying oneself through explorations of sexual, cultural, and racial identity, as well as relationships to the body. Several artists in the exhibition are in dialogue with memory, grief, trauma, and generational shifts; their approaches vary from representation to abstraction. Others focus their efforts on issues outside the self. These artists investigate consumerism, propaganda, political ideologies, and the deterioration of natural and urban environments. In the safety of our studios, magical explorations of art present the possibility to cure these complex, intangible issues.

 

— Satya Underhill Garcia and Rebecca Fux, Curatorial Chairs