The Polygon Gallery warmly welcomes producer Jill Henderson and director/producer Aquiles Ascencion of AvidEye Productions as well as artist Samuel Roy-Bois for the premiere screening of Détournement | Samuel Roy-Bois, a documentary encounter with the internationally acclaimed Canadian contemporary artist in his home, in his studio, and in the land of the Syilx/Okanagan Valley. At the time of filming in 2023, the area was directly impacted by the catastrophic McDougall Creek and Okanagan Wild Fires which left their mark on the land, and on Roy-Bois’ work.

Détournement | Samuel Roy-Bois
18 minutes, 2024

Doors at 6:00pm
Screening + Conversation at 6:30pm
RSVPs are appreciated

About Samuel Roy-Bois
Samuel Roy-Bois’ artistic practice encompasses installation, sculpture, and photography, focusing on the built environment, vernacular practices, and art as an emergent phenomenon. In 2020 his Reward Friends, Punish Enemies was the third in a 10-year commissioning program of new public artworks installed at The Polygon Gallery, in collaboration with the Burrard Arts Foundation. Components of the work remain at the entrance to The Polygon Gallery and find multiple public use to this day.

About AvidEye
AvidEye Productions is an award-winning independent production company based in Calgary. They have produced over thirty productions working with local and national arts organizations and non-profits creating documentaries on iconic artists Katie Ohe and Anna Torma; on Calgary artist and art preparator Doug Haslam; and on influential and award-winning Indigenous contemporary art curator, Lee-Ann Martin. AvidEye productions has been awarded Best Documentary awards from On Art Film Festival (Europe's largest outdoor film festival), and Edmonton Short Film Festival, among other awards and official selections.

AvidEye is comprised of Jill Henderson a Scottish/Canadian producer and communications professional; and Venezuelan/Canadian director and producer Aquiles Ascencion.

Aquiles Ascencion is a Calgary-based producer and director originally from Venezuela. Ascencion graduated from the Conservatory of Dramatic Arts, Geneva, Switzerland in 2003, with further studies in Writing for Film and Television at the Vancouver Film School completed in 2013. Prior to co-founding AvidEye, he collaborated with renown directors in Europe, including Claude Stratz and Alain Tanner. In 2021, his screenplay for “Kaporito el Guardian de la Montaña” (2021) was awarded the best feature screenplay at the Caracas Iberoamerican Festival.

Jill Henderson is a Calgary-based producer, artist and communications and marketing professional, currently engaged as Head of Communications at Esker Foundation, a non-profit private contemporary art gallery in Calgary. Previously, she was the Marketing and Communications Manager at the Contemporary Art Gallery in Vancouver. Henderson has maintained her artistic practice while also bringing her expertise to support leading international artists and non-profit art organizations in Glasgow, New York City and Toronto.

Banner Image: Détournement | Samuel Roy-Bois, 2024, video still