Victoria Laube likens her process to rubbing and scraping, “wondering what’s under the crust, still alive, waiting to be born?” The line comes from the Ottawa Art Gallery’s (OAG) exhibition Exfoliation, her solo show of photo-based work on grief, on view in the OAG’s Sky Lounge on level 3 from October 10 to November 8, 2026.
Presented in partnership with the School of the Photographic Arts: Ottawa (SPAO), Exfoliation accompanies Laube’s receipt of the 2026 Project XO Award. The annual accolade from the Ottawa Art Gallery (OAG) and SPAO honours outstanding photographic work by artists connected to the Ottawa-Gatineau region. Laube, a Perth-based artist, holds a diploma in photographic arts from SPAO, where she also completed an artist residency.
The show speaks to two United Nations Sustainable Development Goals: Good Health and Well-Being and Reduced Inequalities. Exhibiting intimate reflections on grief within a free, accessible museum space creates a vital public entry point for discussions around loss and mental wellness. Concurrently, the Project XO Award advances equity within the regional arts sector. Designed with an explicit focus on inclusion, the award encourages submissions from BIPOC artists, first-generation Canadians, and members of equity-seeking groups across the National Capital Region, including residents of the host nations Algonquin of Pikwakanagan First Nation and Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg First Nation. Selected by a panel of independent jurors alongside an OAG representative, the award provides the recipient with a solo exhibition at the Ottawa Art Gallery, an exhibition fee, a $1,000 education bursary at SPAO, and equipment credits through DAIMON and Wall Space Gallery.
SPAO describes Laube’s award project, Process: Death and Discovery, as a response to watching her mother choose to die by MAID, short for medical assistance in dying, a process Canada’s Criminal Code permits only under specific rules, according to Health Canada. After her mother’s death, Laube photographed everyday subjects quickly and spontaneously and made self-portraits that reference past events and unacknowledged feelings, using the camera to work through guilt and shame.
Developed while Laube processed her mother’s life and death, Exfoliation addresses complex family dynamics, inherited trauma, and recovery after bereavement. Her practice bridges unscripted moments with staged self-portraits, presented through dynamic material applications. The exhibition features Flies (Banner) (2026), printed on a massive 43-by-96-inch PVC banner, alongside Memory Cubes (2026), which mounts photographs on Sintra board to create 15.5-inch sculptural blocks. Other works include the Rose Series (2026) on transparent acrylic panels and Encumbrance (2021), produced using pigment ink on archival cotton rag.
Everyday objects carry much of the weight. On her website, a separate Exfolion series from 2023 pairs photographs in diptychs, two images shown side by side, made in the final months of her mother’s life, with accompanying text. Image descriptions on the site include a sticky fly trap hanging at a window, a broken window with red tape along its cracks, and an older woman asleep in a red Muskoka chair beside a forest. The texts return to what went unspoken between a daughter and her mother.
According to SPAO, Exfoliation presents a deeply personal study of grief, capturing the painful shedding of loss alongside the possibility of emotional regeneration. The work extends beyond private mourning to address broader themes of memory, intergenerational care, and reconciliation. In a free gallery, with no ticket or appointment, visitors can view it for as long as they like.
Exfoliation is on view in the Sky Lounge, level 3, at the Ottawa Art Gallery, 50 Mackenzie King Bridge, through November 8, 2026. Admission is free.