BITTERSWEET

Originally simply titled "Developing a Body of Work" for my grant application to the Canada Council for the Arts - I later changed the title to "Bittersweet" to describe my 1 year artistic experience.  The goal for this project was to develop a solid body of work within certain themes I had interests in, and to collaborate with several Deaf artists. 

My grant application was actually originally denied by the local art micro-grant program. While disappointing, I told myself that rejection was redirection. I moved forward to expand this project to a year-long journey working in my very own studio in Necessary Arts Collective with four different creative research phases . I reapplied with a larger budget to CCA and was actually in disbelief for a while when my project was selected.  

I broke down the year long journey into bite sized "phases" so that I could build discipline and focus. The first phase was  "Documentations of Somatic Manifestations: V.1 Physical". The focus during this phase was to explore the relationship between my physical chronic pain and my developmental traumas. By using fun materials, I illuminate areas of physical inflammation with neon and phosphorescent paint onto skeletal paintings. I also use a skeleton model to visualize my body literally in the movements and the relationship between each joint. Anatomical books were used in recognizing the types of bones and muscles affected. 

The second phase was intended to be a soft break between intense focus points by shifting it to animals, finding the beauty in other sentient beings 

The third phase was challenging. Since I increased the timeframe in the prior phase from 3 months to 4 months - I only had 2 months for this one. This time frame was intended to explore how to define something in me that is unknown. When it manifests itself as hysterical, a possession, unseen physiological pain without clear causes, and enduring psychological traumas in an ableist society. I communicate something I don't yet understand through the visual and tactile means of multimedia art.   

The final and most fun phase! This was such a fun opportunity to collaborate with three Deaf artists . I asked Alice Lo, Peter Owusu-Ansah, and Maryam Hafizirad to join me for a playful approach to collaborative art. initially I envisioned the collaborations to be just between me and each artists. Since this kind of opportunity to engage in paid collaborative work with Deaf artists was rare - we all decided to also collaborate all together.

We arranged for some of the collaborations to happen in Toronto, outside of my studio in Guelph. The biggest shoutout to Necessary Arts Collective, Canadian Cultural Society of the Deaf, Tangled Arts Disability, and Tessar Lo (Alice's brother) for lending us their spaces to work in to make this project happen.

The biggest gratitude to Canada Council for the Arts for funding this project, making my dream come true.  

I selected about 20 works to be exhibited at Necessary Arts Collective, including the collaborative work with Alice Lo. You can view the show here