Author: Zavitz Gallery

Categories
Exhibitions 2021 - 2022

Unwritten

Nerine Cavadias

Unwritten is an exhibition that seeks to explore the infinite possible ways that history could have played out. This work aims to subvert the expectations of a piece of art as something precious and valuable, to call back to the atrocities of the holocaust. Taking pieces from Adolf Hitler’s failed art career, drawing them into a book, then burning it, it felt like a poignant gesture and in a sense, poetic justice. The Holocaust was such a prominent and horrifying part of our history, which happened not even 100 years ago, and should not be forgotten. Rather than to reiterate the past, Unwritten calls to attention the limitless versions of history that did not come to pass due to the actions of one man with a country under his thumb. Almost asking the question; What is Hitler made it as an artist? Would the Nazis have burned so much cultural heritage? Would we have lost the millions of innocent souls? Would we even have had World War II? No matter how many different possibilities there are, we must not forget what happened and learn from the past to prevent history’s repetition.

This piece of art now ceases to exist but in a documented form through a variety of lenses-much alike most of our human history.

You can find more of Nerine’s work on Instagram @theartofnerine

Categories
Exhibitions 2021 - 2022

Place Non Servile

Ben Lang

You can view more of Ben’s work on Instagram @beejlang or online at https://www.benjaminpeterlang.com/. 

Categories
Exhibitions 2021 - 2022

The Domestic Interior

Carmen Mattear

The Domestic Interior is an installation that exhibits a soundscape composed of found audio clips displayed with the artist’s family kitchen table. Viewers are encouraged to sit at the table while listening to the soundscape.

Click HERE to preview the 360º gallery tour!

Carmen Mattear is a multi-disciplinary artist who is compelled to collect media as data, and in this feat, patterns and anecdotes can emerge. The Domestic Interior is no exception. The audio is a result of sifting through different sources and combining them as a carefully constructed soundscape. Mattear believes that reality is a series of patterns, her practice revolves around seeking out these patterns.

You can view more of Carmen’s work on her instagram pages:
@handlewith.caution

Categories
Exhibitions 2021 - 2022

The Space Between

Colleen Alcorn

Click HERE to preview the 360º gallery tour!

You can view more of Colleen’s work on her instagram pages:
@cardboardintelligence
@collzzn

Categories
Exhibitions 2021 - 2022

Facing Perspectives

Laurie Policarpio x Sarah Bryant x Carmen Mattear

You can view more of their work on their instagram pages: @sarah.makingstuff
@lauries.art.stories
@handlewith.caution

Categories
Exhibitions 2021 - 2022

From the Earth: Sun & Stone

Bella Savedra

From the Earth: Sun & Stone is an exhibition that explores human relationships with nature, with an emphasis on form, feeling, and experience. Through photography, sculpture, and painting I explore my own relationship with natural objects and aim to gain a better understanding of the earth and my place in the natural world. A major emphasis for each of these projects was in the making and the handling of objects, paying special attention to how they feel, the sounds they make, the processes they endure, as well as how they look. I examine what we can learn from working with the earth, and the connection that comes with it.

You can view more of Isabellas work on her instagram: @bella.savedra

Categories
Exhibitions 2021 - 2022

Memory Politics

Kimberly Realegeno

Memory Politics is an investigation of identity through the inheritance of surviving memories and the generation effects of colonialism. Due to forced immigration and colonialism, self-identity is affected by the survival and mourning of culture, language, trauma, and family. Through digital manipulation, such as glitching and data moshing, I will expose the vulnerabilities and disruption caused by passing down knowledge. The goal of this work is to provide hope and healing for the diaspora and encourage the labour of individual and communal efforts to connect and pass on tradition, culture, and language.

Categories
Exhibitions 2021 - 2022

Fearless Contact

Claire Wright

Fearless Contact (2021)
Painbody (2021)
Infinity Noodle (2021) *please visit YouTube to view

Fearless Contact is a three part video installation that documents experimental performance works completed during the 2020/2021 school year. Each piece involves engaged physical action, using the body as a canvas and sculptural tool in order to communicate. There is an emphasis on line and gesture, with emerging connections to consciousness, catharsis, touch,  the body, vulnerability, and memory. These performances are a release of fear and shame, and an invitation to engage with the awareness of the self in a healing space. There is an allowance for whatever happens to come out of a session, sort of like artistic improvisation. 

Title piece Fearless Contact is the first of the experimental series, and sparked further investigation into vulnerability and reconciliation with the body. It was inspired by the desire for visceral pleasure while experiencing prolonged isolation, and a return to childlike play and freedom. The second work in the series titled Painbody is a reflection on the artists experience with chronic pain, which is documented directly on the body’s landscape. Varied gestural applications of the material and colors mirror the cellular memory of pain. Here she also explores various video editing techniques of layering and color adjustment. The final piece Infinity Noodle continues the exploration of bodily pain and vulnerability, using repetitive gestures to engage and highlight excruciating experiences of disordered eating and restriction.

More work can be found at www.clairestewartwright.ca

Categories
Exhibitions 2021 - 2022

“tmi” is a collaboration between Maeve Hind and Alexa Collette that came to life with the help of Justin Meyers, their CNC machine technician. Through experimenting with digital drawing and a CNC (computer numerical control) machine, they were able to create bodies reflective of the many states involved in being human. Bringing together paintings as well as sculpture and technology, the process has been integral in creating the works. 

The show was prompted from reflection on the experience of shifting states of being, bringing to light what might be invisible beneath the surface of the collective yet individual human experience. In this way, they challenge the expectations of what is socially acceptable to display and discuss in public. 

Derived from personal experiences with invisible illness and shifting levels of ability, the figures in the show exemplify the range of human emotion and feeling within experiences. “tmi” promotes the notion of vulnerability as a strength that everyone has the ability to explore. In accepting these changing states, they are able to connect with a wider audience and genuinely represent themselves as people moving through the world. 

The goal is to provide a sense of visibility that meets the viewer exactly where they are, no matter the state. 

So the question we leave you to ponder is, Do you think this is tmi?

@mjh_art_ @alexacollette @max.makers

Categories
Exhibitions 2020 - 2021

Lapse

By Hannah Pecyna

In this body of works, I explored my past experiences specifically focusing on moments of lost innocence. A loss of innocence is a common theme in literature in which a protagonist has an experience that leads to a greater awareness of the negative aspects of the world. This is usually shown through one experience. I believe that in the course of each person’s story, there is not just one but many losses of innocence which shape them. During quarantine, I have had a lot of time to reflect and understand which of my life experiences caused me to lose a shred of my innocence and how each experience impacted me greatly. Although it often has a negative connotation, I believe that a loss of innocence is not a negative experience. In the process of making these works, I explored this idea and learned that even in the worst of moments, the experience will help you to learn and grow as an individual. I learned a period of reflection and appreciation regarding the more negative experiences in your life can be essential to self actualization. We are consistently learning and growing as individuals. The lessons we learn are only worth something if we take the time to contemplate and recognize what we are being taught. The aim of these works is to challenge the viewer to reflect on their own experiences where they lost a shred of their innocence. From the acknowledgement of the momentary lapses where our innocence can be diminished, we can begin to heal from those experiences and use them to further understand ourselves, our emotions and how to carry on from our past. I titled this project Lapse because each work focuses on a specific momentary lapse in time in which I lost a fragment of my innocence, for better or for worse. I am interested in further exploring this idea by examining other peoples’ experiences of lost innocence and understanding how they have been shaped by their past.