In her sculpture, Elaine Cameron-Weir (b. 1985, Red Deer, Canada) grapples with questions of individual and collective human survival, while also considering the potential for renewal and transformation in states of being and forms of knowledge. Her work is informed by belief systems that structure how people make sense and meaning of the world—from science and religion to the nation-state. Often repurposing objects with previous scientific, medical, or military functions, Cameron-Weir creates exquisitely assembled forms that conjure speculative uses or ritual applications in times past and future.

For her exhibition at the Henry, Cameron-Weir has created new work conceived in conversation with dynamic double-height volume of the museum’s lower level. At the center of the installation are two human-sized, metal cases—military equipment designed to transport bodily remains—that serve as counterweights to conveyor belts that rise up from the ground like suspended bodily stand-ins. Human vulnerability is a central theme across Cameron-Weir’s work and is particularly potent in the artist’s Henry exhibition, which is informed by the way social systems arbitrate the value of corporeal existence.