Unfallen opens a broader discussion that extends the idea of ‘place,’ with both utopian and dystopian edges. The impetus for this project is fueled by the rapidly changing environment and technologically enhanced world we live in and alludes to an imagined paradise – caught in stasis between the fall (from paradise) and (what I like to call) the ‘thud’ (hell).
A series of drawings of tornadoes was the visual starting point for this project. I originally envisioned tornadoes in cubes – boxed, packaged and harnessed into control. However, the world is round allowing no edges where one may hide, so I shifted to spheres and fishbowls. Following this I began to photograph reflections from ponds, windows, puddles, and so on, which I oriented upside-down making them right way up – thus defying gravity, leaving space and time, in a sense, hanging in mid-air. In other instances, I merely flipped images to render an alternative meaning.
A leading image, Unfallen (boys), depicts two young black boys attempting to do headstands on the beach. It is an image of spontaneous, youthful exuberance, but turned upside-down, it appears as though the two boys are holding up the world. Re-orienting these photographs reinforces the ambiguity of the image, challenging both the ‘truth’ of the photographic image and the accepted order of the world. The gesture re-frames the representation of the ordinary or mundane, providing vistas onto new possibilities.
In other works, a cluster of photographs, criss-crossed lines of highway overpasses in Vancouver, roadside stalls in Ghana, the upside-down image of a palm tree-lined median strip in Mexico, autumnal leaves reflected in a lake in Parc La Fontaine, Montreal, various aerial views of landscapes in Mexico, Turkey and Argentina, describing the surfaces of places. Collapses space and reorients images into a gestural line reminiscent of swirls from a tornado.
The kinetic sculptural component, Turbulence consist of a small working tornado in a fishbowl with miniatures from the everyday (people, animals, cars, bicycles, fire hydrants, etc.) This piece is shown from two perspectives; one as a small sculptural piece, hypnotically rendering a tornado forming but never fully formed, where a magnet twists and twirls miniature particles into chaotic order. The second viewpoint is a large circular projection, from a video camera recording the movement of the twister from above. This renders the tornado as a roulette wheel – a game of chance as a metaphor for life.
By the simple act of turning reality askew, I hope to examine varied notions of perceptions. In an installation context, unfallen creates a world gone awry yet stilled in reflections. This allows us, for a moment, to perhaps stand outside of our small cyclonic lives and see the big picture of the madness we have created. Perhaps it is only in a reflected remembrance – that can be easily shattered by a mere pebble – that one can attain, for a brief moment – paradise!
Captions:
Unfallen (boys) 2012: Epson Archival Ink on enhanced matte paper, 30” x 40” (76 x 101cm)
Unfallen (autumn) 2012: Epson Archival Ink on enhanced matte paper, 30” x 40” (76 x 101cm)
(pond) 2018; Epson Archival Ink on enhanced matte paper, 40” x 60” (101 x 152cm)
Unfallen (Tulum Swirl); 2018 Epson Archival Ink on enhanced matte paper, 45” x 35” (114 x 90cm)
Unfallen (Istanbul Circle) 2018; Epson Archival Ink on enhanced matte paper, 60” x 25” (152 x 36.5cm)
Unfallen (Installation View) 2018: Size variableE
xhibitions:
2018 - unfallen (2), Warren G. Flowers Gallery, Dawson College, Montreal, QC
2012 - unfallen (1), McMaster Museum of Art, Hamilton, ON
Review:
MMA Exhibits Mesmerize and Challenge Viewers, The Silhouette, McMaster University Newspaper, Jukubiec, Dominika, Hamilton, ON, January 2012
