This fall, more than 20 Canadian artists from the Okanagan and Shuswap regions will showcase their work in Germany and the Czech Republic as part of Try Walking in May Shoes, an international cultural initiative within the European Capital of Culture Chemnitz 2025 program.
Through visual art, theatre, poetry, and film, these artists reinterpret the Ore Mountains (Erzgebirge/Krušné hory), weaving Canadian perspectives into themes of imagination, migration, cultural memory, and an enduring bond with the land.
The opening exhibition, You May Dream in HOT, launches Sept. 20 in Hohenstein-Ernstthal, the birthplace of legendary German author Karl May. Artworks and installations will animate Dresdner Straße’s shop windows and cultural spaces, remaining on view until mid-December.
“Paintings, written texts, and short films will be part of autumn exhibitions on both the German and Czech sides of the Ore Mountains. I believe visitors will be surprised by the high artistic standard of the artists, most of whom are based in the Okanagan region," said Tereza Koranda Dvořáková, curator from the co-organizing Zensky spolek. "The exhibitions will tell new stories of the Ore Mountains. It will be entertaining—and for Europeans, also an opportunity to learn more about the oppression of Canada’s Indigenous peoples and today’s Canadian society’s efforts to make amends for this difficult past,”
Vernon artist aj jaeger, Armstrong-based Krystyna Laycraft, and Vernon painter Destanne Norris will represent the Canadian contingent in person — taking part in creative workshops, a theatre parade, and the exhibition opening.
For jaeger, the journey carries deep personal meaning: her mother was born in Hohenstein-Ernstthal.
“We’re not just bringing Canadian perspectives to Europe,” jaeger says. “We’re bringing personal stories full circle — woven through memory, stories, and creative transformation.”
Laycraft, a physicist-turned-artist, brings a philosophical, nature-based perspective, exploring inner transformation through layered mixed-media works.
Norris, known for her evocative landscape paintings, drew inspiration from a free-roaming goat of the Ore Mountains, now immortalized by a local statue.
“This goat — wild, independent, and remembered — became a symbol of freedom, survival, and belonging,” Norris reflects. She will also join a public panel discussion co-organized by the Embassy of Canada in Berlin.
The public events start Sept. 16 to 20 with a theatre workshop called May Be Hero in HOT.
Open studio sessions at Treffpunkt Magnet (public welcome) take place Sept. 18 to 20 from 2 to 6 p.m.
The theatre parade, You May Parade, goes through town Sept. 20 at 4 p.m. followed by the You May Dream in HOT exhibition opening at 5 p.m.
Rounding out the experience, a public roundtable with Canadian guests takes place Sept. 21 at 4 p.m., co-hosted by the Embassy of Canada in Berlin
A second exhibition of B.C. art will open Oct. 21 in Chomutov, Czech Republic.
Try Walking in May Shoes is a Czech German Canadian collaboration inviting artists and audiences to reimagine place from the outside in — a creative dialogue echoing May’s spirit of imagined travels.
The other participating artists are: Bree Apperley (Kelowna), Raj Jan (Kelowna), Ziyba Ibragimova (Salmon Arm), Reg Kienast (Armstrong), John Lawrence (Armstrong), Patrick Lundeen (Kelowna), Stephen Lytton (Vancouver), Julie Oakes (Vernon), Delores Purdaby (Salmon Arm), Patricia Purdaby (Salmon Arm), Jacquie Sharpe (Larch Hills), Patricia L. Smith (Salmon Arm), Cathy Stubbington (Enderby), Kenten Thomas (Enderby), Calvin White (Salmon Arm), Sarah Wiens (Salmon Arm), Deborah Wilson (Vernon), Rosalind Williams (Enderby), Isabelle Gervais (Salmon Arm), Angela Hansen (Lake Country) and Bradley Norrish (Sorrento).
