Photography, borders and historical movement across ‘From the Edge of the Horizon I’ and its companion exhibition at the University of Saskatchewan
Installation view of ‘Dawit L. Petros: From the Edge of the Horizon I’, 2025, Remai Modern, Saskatoon. Photo: Carey Shaw.
‘Dawit L. Petros: From the Edge of the Horizon’ unfolds as a two-part exhibition presented at Remai Modern and the University of Saskatchewan’s College Art Galleries, bringing together works that trace the artist’s sustained engagement with photography, video, sculpture and installation. Spanning two decades of practice, the exhibition assembles key bodies of work that address migration, geography and the formation of identity across colonial and contemporary histories. Rather than offering a chronological survey, the exhibition foregrounds recurring visual and conceptual concerns that have shaped Petros’s approach to image-making and spatial inquiry.
The horizon is central to the exhibition, recurring in Petros’s work as more than a neutral line of sight. It is a charged site where histories of displacement, power, and movement meet. In his photographic series and installations, the horizon acts as a visual boundary and a conceptual threshold. It invites reflection on how borders are constructed, perceived, and inhabited. The exhibition links these ideas to broader questions about how images shape knowledge, memory, and belonging.
The horizon as a site of historical and visual inquiry
In Petros’s work, the horizon is more than a compositional device. It is where colonial histories, personal memory, and contemporary migration meet. His images often show figures in expansive landscapes or against architectural surfaces, emphasising distance, orientation, and the act of looking. These strategies prompt viewers to consider how framing and perspective shape visibility and obscurity in narratives of place and movement.
The exhibition connects local geographies with global histories, linking Africa, North America, and Europe through shared visual structures and ideas. By highlighting how images are made and viewed, Petros questions neutrality and objectivity in photography. He emphasises the ethical dimension of seeing.
Biography, place and the formation of artistic practice
Born in Eritrea, Petros lived in Ethiopia and Kenya before moving to Canada as a child. Arriving in Saskatoon marked a turning point for his artistic sensibility. He encountered a landscape and culture unlike those of his East African origins. Over time, Saskatoon became central to his practice, influenced by personal experience and a close-knit Eritrean community.
This biographical path shapes the exhibition’s focus on migration as an ongoing condition. It influences perception, memory, and a sense of belonging. Petros’s work explores not just rupture but also continuity, adaptation, and layered relationships between people and place. These ideas are expressed through restrained visual languages that use stillness, repetition, and careful observation.
Institutional collaboration and expanded exhibition formats
From the Edge of the Horizon appears in two institutional settings. The exhibition at Remai Modern is paired with a concurrent show at the University of Saskatchewan’s College Art Galleries. The companion exhibition, From the Edge of the Horizon II, highlights The Stranger’s Notebook, a multimedia series about self and place in contemporary African migration.
This dual-site structure expands the exhibition’s themes across different spaces and curatorial approaches. It invites ongoing engagement rather than a one-time visit. Michelle Jacques curated at Remai Modern, and Leah Taylor curated at the University of Saskatchewan. Their approach situates Petros’s art within broader institutional discussions of migration, representation, and the roles of art institutions.
Presenting Petros’s work across several sites highlights context, dialogue, and continuity in exhibitions about movement and displacement. The project does not offer a resolution. Instead, it provides space to reflect on how migration shapes visual culture and lived experience.
‘Dawit L. Petros: From the Edge of the Horizon I’ is on view at Remai Modern, Saskatoon, until 8 March 2026. For more information, please visit Remai Modern.
