Constructed Image
Skye Callow and Tobin Rowland
Opening Reception: January 9 5 – 9 PM
Exhibition Run: January 9 – February 27 2026
Gallery Hours: Wednesday – Saturday 12 – 5 PM
206 Princess St. Winnipeg MB
Constructed Image
Constructed Image is a collective glimpse into the practices of emerging visual artists Skye Callow and Tobin Rowland, and puts them in direct conversation with one another for the first time. Both working at the fringes of contemporary photography, each artist’s practice is driven by process and experimentation, and the investigation into formal aesthetics and the conceptual capabilities of images.
Through lens-based practices, sculpture, painting, and methods that fall between the lines of easy categorization, Callow and Rowland consider the differences between captured images, and constructed ones. They ask – what dictates beauty in contemporary visual culture, and what determines an image valuable or “real”?
Rooted by an ongoing, open-ended inquiry into what an image is, and what it could be, Constructed Image functions as a site of play, care, and experimentation for each artist, and disrupts and challenges accepted conventions of photography and visual representation.
Skye Callow
Skye Callow is an artist based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. She primarily works with photography and lens-based practices. Her work investigates formal aesthetics and the ways in which form generates and communicates meaning in images. Callow’s practice considers hierarchies of beauty and value within image-based visual culture, while seeking to disrupt accepted conventions in contemporary photography. She is fascinated by film grain and the digital pixel, and often utilizes both analog and digital photographic processes in her work. She is a constant experimenter, influenced and inspired by the approach of experimental filmmaking, with her practice often shifting between mediums and techniques.
Skye lives and works in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and is originally from Sandy Hook, Manitoba, on the shores of Lake Winnipeg. She received her BFA (Hons.) from the University of Manitoba in 2022. Skye is the Distribution and Collections Coordinator at the Winnipeg Film Group and is a member of the Open City Cinema Collective (The Winnipeg Underground Film Festival).
Tobin Rowland
Tobin Rowland is an emerging trans artist whose practice explores self-autonomy, identity, and where we can find the significance between memory and emotion. Graduating from the University of Manitoba with a BFA in studio work, Rowland has spent the past five years refining a practice that merges oil painting with image transfer. This process allows them to blend photography and paint, creating works that are as visually engaging as they are tactile and emotionally evocative. Since Graduating in 2020, Rowland has been a part of multiple group shows nationally and has been shown in magazines internationally.
Imagery in Rowland’s work is deeply intentional, often featuring familiar and domestic items such as tchotchkes, heirlooms, and souvenirs—objects that have a personal and collective nostalgia. These elements are carefully selected and layered onto their canvases, establishing an immediate sense of recognition and intimacy between the work and the viewer. This familiarity aims to captivate the viewers to form a bond with the work, encouraging them to approach it with vulnerability and openness. By fostering this emotional connection, Rowland’s work creates a shared space for introspection and celebrates vulnerability.
The process of image transfer plays a pivotal role in Rowland’s practice, serving as both a technical and conceptual bridge between photography and painting. For the past five years, they have explored and refined this technique, using it to create a tactile and physical dialogue between the work and the viewer. This interplay of texture and imagery brings depth to each work, allowing layers of memories and meanings to emerge.
As a trans artist, Rowland’s journey informs every aspect of their work, driving an exploration of identity and the ways it can be shaped, reshaped, and reclaimed. Through the combination of vibrant oil paint, textured imagery, and emotionally resonant subject matter, their art captures the complexity of self-definition and autonomy. Each piece becomes a testament to resilience and self-discovery, offering viewers an opportunity to reflect on their own experiences in parallel.
About aceartinc.: We are an artist-run centre dedicated to the support, exhibition, and dissemination of contemporary art. aceartinc. Presents five major exhibitions a year by contemporary visual artists. www.aceart.org
We are on Treaty 1 Territory. On the original lands of Anishinaabeg, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota, and Dene Peoples, and the National Homeland of the Red River Métis. We offer our respect and gratitude to the caretakers of this land.
