Stories of the Infinite Sky by Meryl McMaster
Drawing inspiration from memories and cultural traditions related to her nêhiyaw (Plains Cree), Métis, Dutch, and British ancestry, the Quebec-based artist Meryl McMaster dons a new persona in each photograph. Seeing each one as its own theatrical performance, McMaster constructs a layered backstory with the props she crafts, the clothing and makeup designs she creates, and the culturally significant locations to which she brings a second life. These imaginative photographs are just the end result of McMaster’s artistic process.
Stories of the Infinite Sky presents a collection of photographs full of fantastical stories and new narratives to consider. In the forests of Pyramid Hill, the photographs transform, weaving new tales that combine the artist’s family histories, important landscapes, and sense of wonder with our own. McMaster invites us to dream and get lost in the worlds she creates— her storytelling drawing us in close for a moment of self-reflection.
Meryl McMaster, Time’s Gravity, 2015, Archival Pigment Print on Watercolour Paper, 30’’ x 45’’
(From “Wanderings”)
Meryl McMaster, What Will I Say to the Sky and the Earth III, 2019, Digital C-Print, 40’’ x 60’’
(from “As Immense as the Sky”)
Meryl McMaster, Lead Me to Places I Could Never Find on My Own I, 2019, Digital C-Print, 40’’ x 60’’
(From “As Immense as the Sky”)
Meryl McMaster, Under the Infinite Sky, 2015, Archival Pigment Print on Watercolour Paper, 30’’ x 45’’
(From “Wanderings”)
Meryl McMaster, There Are No Footprints Where I Go, 2019, Digital C-Print, 40’’ x 60’’
(From “As Immense as the Sky”)
Meryl McMaster, Between the Start of Things and the End of Things III, 2019, Digital C-Print, 40’’ x 60’’
(From “As Immense as the Sky”)
Meryl McMaster, Remember the Sky You Were Born Under, 2022, Giclée Print, 40’’ x 60’’
(From “Stories of My Grandmothers”)
Meryl McMaster, When the Shadows Fall, 2022, Giclée Print, 40’’ x 60’’
(From “Stories of My Grandmothers”)
Meryl McMaster, Ordovician Tide II, 2019, Digital C-Print, 40’’ x 60’’
(From “As Immense as the Sky”)
Follow this map to see all 9 photographs featured in Stories of the Infinite Sky by Meryl McMaster. This exhibition is displayed on outdoor viynal banners that are beautifully integrated into the nature and surrounding art in Pyramid Hill's park grounds. The photographs follow the path from "Swan Lake", past the Amphitheater, and toward the back exit.
