Lamiss

Hello!

The Kilometer Walk By Lamiss Gharib

A kilometre is something difficult to calculate only in one way. For the project, I chose to view a kilometre in time. I chose to walk exactly 1 kilometre with a twist. That twist is that I will walk on a piece of watercolour paper with black acrylic paint on my boots. I chose to take this more hands-on approach to making a physical piece that represents a kilometre because I enjoy the unpredictable process of working paint on different surfaces. By conducting all these steps, it will create a unique and original abstract piece made of black footprints.

To start off this project, I had to calculate how long it would take me to walk 1 kilometre using maps. The result ended up being 14 minutes. After that, I made a sample of how the footprint would look which I later on included in the final piece. With the complicated step being done, all I had to do was put my boots in black paint and walk on the paper for 14 minutes.

Now that I’m looking at it finished, I totally think this would work great in an abstract gallery showcase. These abstract showcases love to capture unique ways to create art which fits perfectly with this art piece made out of footsteps. But only time will tell if it will end up in an abstract gallery showcase!

Turning the Gestures of Everyday Life Into Art by Katja Heitmann

There are many difficulties when it comes to the creation of this unique artwork. To start off, the dancers were not allowed to record the individuals’ movements leaving them to memorize and study the volunteers’ actions. On top of that, the dancers had to continually perform the gesture assigned to them. As a result, some dancers must have been mentally and physically challenged while also he is tired. However, there were also some gifts that came with this piece. Some volunteers in the article stated that they had never realized that their bodies acted in that way. This results in the volunteers having to reflect on themselves and their movement. Additionally, the volunteers have also discovered a newfound uniqueness to themselves.
One movement that I saw myself in was Mahat Arab’s cracking of the knuckles when he was anxious. Arab’s tic strikes me as a defence mechanism from the stressful environment he is in. By cracking his left knuckles he is able to distract and calm himself to continue performing the stressful task, like talking on the phone. As an anxious person myself I have come to notice That I act the same way as an Arab in an anxious or stressful environment.
When my brother is stressed or concentrating on a task he tends to bounce is right leg up and down. This tends to slightly shake is body leaving this face in a concentrated and stern expression. When my mom is stressed she cracks both of her knucks, unlike Arab. She also tilts her head to the right side while also looking down with a stressed look on her face. When my friend talks about meeting new people she tends to cross her arms around her body and straightens out her body. It’s almost as if she is protecting herself from getting hurt by new people.

FIELD TRIP ASSIGNMENT

During my time at the AGO, I absolutely loved the painting “Lynn Donoghue” by June Clark from the culture hip-hop exhibition. That painting caught my sight within seconds of me entering the floor. The large scale on which it was painted was unbelievable. I have never seen an artist make two artworks on one canvas/ panel but also make them cohesive. I admire how the artist drew two different parts of one person on one piece almost giving tribute to the models/ references beauty or a memory. It gives you a chance to examine the person’s significance in the artist’s eyes and also the artist’s painting/ layering process. My favourite part about this work is the style of painting. The ability to use single brush strokes of one colour to look like a face without blending ( or very little blending) is amazing. This is something I am working on improving in my own work, so I’m happy I got to see the style that I want to achieve in an amazing gallery like the AGO!

One of the works that stood out to me was “How Many Colours Has the Sea” by Charles Campbell exhibited at The Power Plant. The artist’s use of colour was mesmerizing. It was as if the arts of works were glowing and imitating an aura. On top of that, it was like the colours were moving and blending into each other. I personally like to play with colour in my own work. However, I have never thought about combining the colours Campbell did to achieve such glowing and vibrant contrast. Looking forward, I will definitely be keeping in mind the colour pallet Campbell used to great this glow while also paying closer attention to the colour palette I pick.

My Crops Are Dying But My Body Persists

Moser does a great job when it comes to integrating pop culture into her work. When we first start off the video experience we hear an oddly familiar voice. It is as if Siri or Alexa is talking to us directly. It immediately sets the tone for the popular ASMR concept with other absurd objects. The Artforum review perfectly describes the meaning of ASMR as “the sequence is pleasurable and calming to watch” and I totally agree. For instance, when she puts the manikin foot into a croc filled with shaving cream it results in the shaving cream oozing out of the Croc’s holes.

Moser also includes the popular theme of beauty culture. A standout moment is when she delicately puts facial cream on toast as if it were her face. Or when is glares at her reflection in the mirror with almost a confused look on her face. This just shows how pop culture is obsessed with their appearance and how people see them

Moser only seems to use mostly very calm neutral colours. She uses them in both her clothing and in her props. The Artforms statement of: “Moser wearing silky pink pajamas while prostrate on a sofa in a white, vaguely neoclassical room” proves that as well. It is as if she is too scared to involve something vibrant in her work. There is almost a fear of involving bright and eye-catching outlier colours that the public eye is more likely to reject.

If I’m being honest the only thing I physically experienced is discomfort. Then Moser was doing movements in the muscle suit I felt icky seeing muscles without skin covering them. Other than that I cant say I experienced anything else. If anything, I caught my mind wandering off from the subject or topics involved in the video most of the time.

Moser poses many ideas and questions in her art. However, there are two that really stood out to me and that would be “ white privilege” and the “bourgeois”. She speaks a lot about white privilege and how the leads to fragility. For instance, she places band-aids on the corners of the white toast or how adds a facial cream to the toast almost to relieve the slice of white bread of its hardships. I also saw the idea of the “bourgeois” through her luxurious background/backdrop, nice-looking sofa, clothing ( silking pj’s), and props that were on the table. For example, she displays a gold mirror, nice-looking vases, ceramics, and Himalayan salt which the Artform states is a “displays of “haute” consumerist taste”.

Moser tends to use absurdity to display the strange and odd modern everyday life. by using absurd objects it makes the viewer question what is seen as normal and absurd. It disrupts the way the modern person thinks and processes things. In addition, using strange objects helps her to talk about sensitive topics that would be seen as sensitive to a population.

Our Feat – Lamiss G. and Riya V.

Video #1: The One-Shot

‘Utility Lines’

With the objective to challenge ourselves with a more struggled feat, we chose a medium that does wouldn’t practically or usually receive the treatment of braiding. We braided together a vacuum pipe, garden hose, and extension cord as these larger objects are not conventionally braided, however, are braidable, and this we wanted to explore. The accomplishment of this feat was to execute a fluid motion, to let the materials behave as they do while being manipulated into the form of a braid. We wanted to explore the simplicity of braiding in some of our other takes, so it this piece, we wanted to explore the bizarre.

Video #2: The Sequence

‘Bound By What We Carry’
Our series of braids where out feat of braiding is applied to finding as many items on our body to braid into each other. One of our equirements was to have one of each of every medium to bind our two bodies together. This series explores levels of intimacy, discomfort, and comfort. The other requirement was the braider was responsible for actively gathering the material they’ll braid, meaning they undo and gather their partners shoelaces, belt, and hair for them.

Video #3: The Loop

“The Making and Unmaking”
We found a unique way to repeat our action that would effectively look like an endless braiding and unbraiding loop. It’s two personal motives that continuously work together towards their own goal: One person making the braid, one person unraveling the braid. It’s not really going anywhere, not ever growing or shrinking, just two people manipulating the same braid and it never really changes as long as they both work on their sides.

Audio Assignment: Group Chat

For this assignment, I wanted to capture the mundane overwhelming experience of being a part of a group chat. This is because many people in my generation suffer from overstimulation. One everyday event is being part of a group chat. This event can be an honour to be part of but also very distressing.

To make this audio I used real group chat messages from my friends and ideas. Then I put them through a text-to-speech software that always picked the computerized voice I wanted to use. From there I edited the notification sounds.

Open Studios

On Wednesday, March 19 I got the honour to view all the amazing MFA students’ studios and the capstone students’ studios. This was just an amazing experience! I got to meet and get to know artists that I have been looking up to for a while. I also loved seeing the different creativity and art styles each studio had to offer. It was inspiring and empowering!

Overall, I’m really grateful for the blog assignment. I honestly wouldn’t have been able to push myself to see and meet the amazing people in the art community if it was required for the blog post.

some pictures!

Conceptual Portrait – How Artists see me

For this project, I wanted to see how artists saw me. So I went around in the art buildings and asked artists to try to capture my portrait in whatever way they wanted to. The only limitation they had was a 10-minute timer. This timer was used as a way to have the artist act on there first impressions of my face rather than over think and analyze my facial features. I provided each artist with a piece of paper and either a pencil or pen to choice from to make they drawing experience as natural and comfortable as could be.

I first asked artists in my class to draw me. After I had collected their work, I moved on to look for artists who had their studios open for the MFA open studios. I chose to do it during open studios because it allowed me the most access to artists in a short period of time.

After I collected all the portraits, I scanned them and organized them on a software. When that was finished, I printed them all on one poster to help capture some common features/likeness that artist captured

Button Assignment

For this last assignment I wanted to emphasis the stereotypes and stigma that Arab and African people go through everyday in a white dominated country. So to eliminate these untruthful stereotypes wanted to create buttons that state the TRUTH. At the end of the day Arab and African people are PEOPLE as help and deserve to be treated as such!

All of these stereotypes are ones that I have encountered has and Arab/ African women in my life. They have been either said to my face, said in literature I have read, or overheard people state.

These are all the buttons I created:

Lilia

Jay

“I can’t clean my room because I get distracted by all the trinkets and doodads I find.”

One Kilometer Masking Tape Road

When I started thinking about how I wanted to fufill this project, my immediate thought was travel as travelling a km seemed the most obvious. However I wanted to think outside the box when it came to travelling. (I also didnt want to go outside as it’s cold and gloomy). I came up with a concept that would allow me to travel with my hands. I decided that I would follow a winding road of masking tape with my fingers and present the km I “walked” in a balled up piece.

I first had to do some math to ensure I was following an exact km. I had found a listing on Amazon for a six pack of Scotch masking tape. Its length was 60.1 yards (54.955 meters). By rounding up to ~55m I concluded I would need 18 rolls to equal 990m. I purchased an additional single roll that I would measure out 10m from by using a meter stick. This would equal a km.

I was stricken with a moderate case of contact dermatitis on my hands as I was completing the project. It replicated the pain I would get in my toes due to poor circulation. Nonetheless pushed on

Did I acheive what I wanted to in this project? Yes. I was able to present a kilometer having actually travelled it. The pain in my hands reminded me of the sharp stinging in my toes, the harsh smell of adhesive reminded me of the gross salty snow and gasoline I’d smell outside. I listened to the same music I would if I were walking outside. While making this km tape ball, I started fast, slowed down overtime, and at the homestretch, sped up just to get the journey over with.. Just like I would have if I was walking.

Analysis #1 Turning the Gestures of Everyday Life into Art, Katja Heitmann

One of the key challenges mentioned in the article is the difficulty in capturing the fluid, transient nature of movement. The article discusses how traditional archiving methods, such as video recordings or written notations, fall short of preserving the essence of movement. These methods can only capture a version of the performance, potentially missing nuances like emotion, intention, or the immediate reaction of the performer to the environment or audience. The article also noted that, “It’s tempting for the volunteers to sit up straighter than usual or perform an ideal version of one’s self.” The camera and documentation of this work may cause these dancers to act rather than to be themselves. A gift that comes with this form of artwork is how open individuals can be when showing their little gestures and tics to others. Additionally, the article touches on the artistic potential of archiving personal movements. Some artists see the archive as a canvas in itself, offering opportunities for reinterpretation and recontextualization of movements across time.
One example of movement was a short GIF of what looks to be a preschooler walking on his toes. Toe walking is a trait that is commonly associated with the autism spectrum. This strikes me as interesting as a lot of gestures in humans, whether they realize it or not, come from a state of being neurodivergent. It’s also interesting how some behaviours are detriental to ones physical health whereas others are not. For example, toe walking, thumb sucking, and nail biting cause health issues impacting bone structure in the jaw and legs, but behavoiurs like repeated leg shaking, harsh blinking, and throat clearing have no detrimets to ones physical health.
My mom has restless legs when she’s tired, she moves them in this harsh circular motion uncontrollably. She also tends to get annoying and childish when tired, using a baby voice and exaggerated pouts to express her tiredness. This combination of restlessness and child-like behaviour encapsulates the age regression most people go through as they begin to get tired. Most individuals attempt to hide this, but my mom does not. This can imply safety in her environment or a care free attitude. My dad bounces his leg uncontrollably when sitting down, it is the only part of him that is moving, the rest is still not including regular human shifts. His heavy body weight makes the whole floor shake. There is no particular time or mood he does this, it happens randomly while he’s performing another task in his seat (looking at TikTok). This movement displays hyperactivity, as well as a way to ground himself. When I am home, my dog walker always greets my dog with a super high pitched “HEELLLOOO” followed by rambles about how she knows my dog missed her. This is accompanied by trying to pet my dog as he spins around aimlessly. The combination of her high pitched voice, aimlessly bedding down to attempt some cuddles with my dog, and the blurred facial expressions as she is moving around creates this awkwardly overstimulating scene to create. She’ll then greet me afterwards with a normal/slightly high pitched voice and will ask me how i’m doing. I imagine that she has differing routines with other clients and their pets. To me this implies the need for routine, both in my dog and my dog walker.

AGO + The Power Plant Field Trip

I was able to participate in the class field trip to the AGO and the Power Plant Art Gallery.

Starting at the AGO, I really enjoyed “The Culture: Hip Hop and Contemporary Art in the 21st Century” exhibition. I was extremely mesmerized by “Cloud Break” (2022) a sculpture by Devan Shimoyama. This sculpture is made out of Timberland boots, Adidas shoes, rhinestones, silk flowers, epoxy resin and chain. While researching this piece on my own time, I was able to get an understanding for why Shimoyama creates pieces like these (theres more than just one), and I found something interesting about the artwork (Cloud Break) seen at the AGO.

Shimoyama touches on themes of racialized communities being displaced in the USA, as well as how DIY crafting in daily life can be used in memorial creation. This circles back to how communities can come together to celebrate life and mourn losses.

This is the picture I took at the AGO (left) next to a picture from an exhibition by Devan Shimoyama: A Counterfeit Gift Wrapped in Fire, 2022. At the Kavi Gupta Gallery in Chicago (right). Both pieces of art are called “Cloud Break” (2022), despite being in different forms. I believe that Shimoyama can use these shoe sculptures almost as deconstructable ready-mades, changing the composition of the sculpture to fit different narratives. I find this to be incredibly effecient both in time and cost when creating artwork.

I found myself circling back to this piece throughout my time at the AGO. The colours and composition really caught my eye.

Next up was the Power Plant. I spent a lot of time in the “How many colours has the sea” exhibition by Charles Campbell. This exhibition focused on the treacherous journey of enslaved Africans across the Atlantic by combining a sculpture, ocean sounds, and “Breath Portraits” that visualize the breath of members of the Black community.

[PICS]

(I know its elsewhere on the blog but I can’t get over this picture Diane took of me! I love it so much!)

One Feat. Three Ways

When exploring a feat we wanted to convey, the concept of toy guns was brought up. Thinking about a challenge that could be associated with this concept we realized how strong the toy guns were and found it hard to keep a straight face while being shot.

Looking at the bigger picture, we wanted to explore the concept of gun violence in today’s media. Most individuals in the younger generations are extremely desensitized to guns and gun violence. This has to do with mass manufacturing of Nerf guns, as well as children being given the ability to play video games that are rated “mature” or “adult only”.

These displays of violence go on to give children the understanding that it is okay to reenact or act upon what they see in video games. By using these brightly colored guns while maintaining a deadpan face as we explore various methods of shooting each other, ourselves, and a figure off camera we begin to show in a very crude manner how video games and toys have an impact on today’s gun violence.

Our one shot explored the consequences of shooting an individual while still maintaining that deadpan face to show that the concept of shooting others and being shot is a reality that most people have come to accept and embrace.

Our sequence explored different ways to use a gun. Adding a second dimension of what it means to blankly shoot oneself, this briefly touches on the normalization of suicidal ideation in today’s society.

Our loop is a video of us consistently shooting each other, in this rhythmic back and forth motion. To me this displays that unless a breakthrough happens in society, gun violence is going to be a persistent aspect of what it means to live on this earth in this time period.

Analysis #2 My Crops Are Dying But My Body Persists, Bridget Moser

To me, this video displays how ludacris some consumerism items are in today’s society. These items are made for individuals to feel better about themselves, to conform to a stereotype, to replicate what they see on social media.

This video explores items such as fake nails, white teeth loose on surfaces, spaghetti being used as hair, among plenty other items. These items and these concepts play into a beauty standard that women feel like they need to uphold in their own personal lives. We can see that with the nails and teeth loose on the table as well as an arbitrary concept of what hair could be that there is a disconnect between wanting to upkeep a beautiful aesthetic and feeling awful and exhausted about trying to be someone you’re not.

Furthermore, the space that this video is being filmed in displays a very “picture perfect” house that has the essence of a Barbie dream house. The white and gold aesthetic paired with pink furniture and walls creates a facade of an individual’s life. We can see the main character in this piece lying in her pink silk pajamas on her pink couch, but she looks so fed up with her own life. This plays into how consumers ultimately at the end of the day create conflict within oneself as they try to navigate the aesthetic that they want to upkeep in their own lives.

Chewing off Ten Press-On Nails in 1 Minute & 15 Seconds

Imagine you had to sit across from me.. Where the only sounds present in the room are white noise, sounds of fidgets, breathing, and me urgently and breathlessly chewing off all ten press-on nails I had just painted and applied.

I wanted to portray a habit through sound when I thought about what I wanted to record for this project. I have extreme impulse issues with biting/chewing my nails, unfortunately it’s a habit I’ve attempted to kick but cannot.. To me this sound immortalizes the (hopefully) last time I will chew off my press-ons.

When I choose to chew off my press-ons, I don’t ever realize how disgusting the sound is.. Getting the chance to record this sound, hear it, and play it back multiple times has given me a new found understanding of how my sound impacts others if it doesn’t impact myself. I’ve been told by my mom that the sound is gross, annoying and that I’m damaging my nails, which are true comments, but her criticalities’ of my habit were not appreciated, especially in her tone.

With this project I whole heartedly accept critiques of both my habit in itself and the portryal of the audio.

Open Studio!

I was able to see the MFA and Capstone Open Studios. Two of the pieces I was drawn to were these two-headed bird by Eliza Marie in Capstone Studio. To me these pieces combines sentiment of loss and happiness and starting over.

I was also able to see my W24 SART1050 TA, Natasha in her MFA studio. I had gotten to see her Studio last year and I was intrigued to find that she has been refining pieces from her first year as an MFA student. Her work explores scenes of nature in loose forms, creating a composition that flows nicely.

I remember looking at her pieces and being able to decipher what the scenery could be, but one look away and I had to start over. I also got to see some of Stephanie Fortins “The weight of stains” pieces. I remember overhearing how some pieces were made by putting damp fabric on rusted cars. I feel like this piece speaks to consumerism and the sociopolitical climate of today’s society, furthermore how humans play into the breakdown of our planet.

And here are some other works I took pics of. (And me helping make a nest!).

Conceptual Portrait

Title: To my psychologist

All my live I’ve had a disability. Since childhood I’ve exhibited clear symptoms of ADHD, despite this, nobody noticed.

I made this conceptual portrait as a means to get back at the neglect I’ve felt since childhood that has persisted into adulthood. When I was able to obtain a diagnostic assessment, I found later on in the report that both the psychologist and my mom on the collateral form got details about my life wrong or entirely forgotten them. Additionally the report was full of grammatical errors and weird sentence structures.

I wanted to reclaim my ADHD, and thus myself by correcting the report.

I wish I had gotten a better (and more) picture(s) of this piece. The corrections in this piece range from small correcting small grammatical errors and rearranging sentence structure to correcting chronological details about my life the psychologist got wrong. Additionally this came with nasty comments towards the psychologist and how the report looked like it was made with a template. (I would love to upload the scan of these works on SOFAM storage but I obliterated my toe on the concrete and had to get stitches).

Artist Multiple – Buttons!

For my artist multiple I made a conversational piece on menstrual/reproductive health. I wanted to break the partriarchal boundaries and uncomfortability that surround talking about women’s biological function. While I didn’t get a picture of all of them together (they very quickly disappeared), I did get a few pictures.

This is the full set of conversation starters:

Ask me about my luteal phase.

Ask me about my follicular phaseAsk me about my period.

Ask me if I’m ovulating.

Ask me about my endometriosis.

Ask me about my PCOS.

Ask me if I remembered to take my birth control.

Ask me about my miscarriage.

Ask me how many pregnancy scares I’ve had.

Ask me about my abortion.

Ask me about my decidual cast.

Ask me how long I’ve left my tampon in.

I had worn the “Ask me how long I’ve left my tampon in.” and the “Ask me if I remembered to take my birth control.” To a job orientation meeting, one of my colleagues/friend (female) pointed it out afterwards and said I got some weird looks from it.

Jaidan

Buttons: Artist multiples

Need a spare?

Modelled by Riya!

MFA Studio Tours

I found walking around the MFA studios to be incredibly inspiring. It was very cool to get to see how other artists work. Along with all of the different mediums they choose to work with. It made me wonder what type of art I would like to focus on. I always feel inspired after viewing the art of others. The artist that stuck out to me was Tuesday Troup. I really enjoy how she paints very mundane scenes while also including detailed imagery. Her work feels very sombre to me, which I enjoyed.

Ages 3-21: A Conceptual Portrait

Audio Art Assignment

Audio Download

My Crops Are Dying But My Body Persists– Bridget Moser

Bridget Moser’s piece “My Crops Are Dying But My Body Persists” shows herself interacting with various objects throughout the video. The colours in this performance remain monochromatic. The beginning of the video shows display of fake nails and human teeth. It then cuts to a mouthpiece intended to shape the face by tightening the jaw muscles. This reminded me of all the various products we’re sold to make ourselves look better. A lot of these products seems ridiculous and do not have enough proof that they actually work. This is a very prevalent topic at the moment. Social media platforms often promote these products to keep up with the constantly changing beauty standards. They only exist to sell more.

The objects that can be seen in the video remind me of something you might find in Homesense or on Amazon. The ceramics in these scenes are gold and white, which makes them seem void of any expression. I couldn’t imagine where in a home a golden balloon animal would look good. This is a commentary on how consumerism makes us feel void of any life. The entire performance feels existential, as if something big is going to happen and then it never does. The artist is aware that all of these products will eventually end up in a landfill, and that our consumerist society is slowly killing the planet. But what is there to do besides continue living? She expresses how lonely it all feels, and how she struggles to make anything worth it.

One Feat, Three Ways

The One Shot

The Sequence

The Loop

Our first idea started with our one shot. We decided to make our gesture “pouring tea” and our feat “what happens when you do not have a tea cup?”. We then decided that I would pour tea on Amelias head. We thought it would be a good idea to have her hold a tea cup. It makes the viewer expect that that’s where the tea is going, then it ends up completely missing the cup.

Our sequence was inspired by our one shot. We both decided that we would find random objects around the house to bring to the studio. We did not discuss what either of us would be bringing, which led to an assortment of different objects. We then poured the tea into each item. This was the most difficult to film because we kept laughing. It is also my personal favourite. The sound of each object really adds to the ambiance and the awkwardness.

Our loop was our final idea. We took two tea cups and put a hole in the bottom of each. We did this by taking a screw driver to hit the bottom, hoping it would break in the right place. We then took a tea pot a poured the tea into both cups. The intention was to make it look like a continuous waterfall.

AGO and Power Plant trip

They have They Can’t, Alvaro Barrington

This work is based off Tupac Shakur’s song “Keep Ya Head Up”. In this song he says “They got money for wars, but can’t feed the poor”. This can be seen sewn on the work in yarn. The work is meant to highlight racism and sexism faced by the black community. It also connects both capitalism and war and the ways that it harms marginalized groups. These words really stood out to me when I first saw them in the gallery. I believe that the connection between poverty and war is extremely prevalent right now. Poverty and homelessness is currently worldwide issue, along with governments funding war. We know that global issues are usually worse for marginalized groups. It shows how this issue has not changed over time. Tupac’s song was released 30 years ago and the words still remain relevant.

Story, Robert Rauschenburg

Another piece that caught my eye was Story by Robert Rauschenberg. This was a mixed media piece on panel. The piece is a collage of printed paper, wood, metal and wood panels. What initially caught my attention about this piece was how tall it was, along with the weird shape of it. It had a collage aspect to it that made me wonder why he chose these specific images. I found myself staring at it for a period of time to try to make sense of it. I enjoyed that the piece had me asking questions about why the artist made it.

Floating Sea Palace, Lap-Sea Lam

The first exhibit I viewed at the Power Plant was Lap-See Lam, Floating Sea Palace. I found this piece incredibly interesting, and weird in a lot of ways. I found myself paying close attention to what the story was trying to say. This made the time pass by quick, I was shocked that the performance was almost 30 minutes in length. The scaffolding that encompassed the room gave the video an interesting effect. It was almost as if you could see through the screen.

How Many Colours Has The Sea, Charles Campbell

In the power plant there was four MP3 players and four headphones. They played a ten minute meditation that had the listener reflect on something they had lost in their life. I found this incredibly relaxing, especially since the work was tucked away in a dark corner with bean bags provided. Across from it you could see Charles Campbell’s exhibit How Many Colours Has The Sea. Accompanying the piece was audio of the sea. I found this exhibit very immersive.

The Gestures of Everyday Life Into Art by Katja Heitmann

This article depicts the work of the choreographer Katja Heitmann. She invited a series of individuals to demonstrate a daily habitual movement. She then had a group of 10 dancers mimic these unique gestures. The idea was to keep the movements alive. This piece aims to keep an “archive” of what makes us human, stepping away from the digital world. A challenge that comes up in the article is when the dancers are attempting to mimic the volunteers actions. It was noted that the volunteer would often correct themselves, but over time, would become more open. The privacy of the interviews helped the volunteers to be more open about themselves. This gave the choreography a better sense of authenticity.

A movement that I found interesting was the “anxiety hands” of Stijn van den Broek. He mentioned that seeing someone mimic his behaviour “looked less elegant” than he thought. But this experience also gave him ownership of this action. What interests me about this is that he claimed something about himself that he thought might be embarrassing. It gave him a new sense of himself, reclaiming a new meaning. It was probably something he never considered. It made me wonder about all of the nervous things that I might do that go unnoticed from myself.

The first habitual movement that comes to mind is one of my dads. Ive noticed, for my entire life, that he often bounces his leg. This movement may imply anxiousness, but I believe that it is a more unconscious movement. Ive noticed myself picking up on this habit over time. Another movement that comes to mind is when my boyfriend will purse his lips when telling a joke. This seems like an unconscious movement and I am unaware if there are any reasons for it. The final movement I would like to discuss is how my cousin will stand in a way with his chest puffed out. Along with this, he pushes his shoulders back. This has become a joke within our family, anyone who stands beside him will often mimic this movement. Which reminds me of this art piece.

For my kilometre I took ten videos of olympians running the 100 metre.

Haadi

:)))

1 Kilometre

For my kilometre I recorded a conversation I had during a 1km walk.

Article Discussion

The work Motus Mori is a project created by Katja Heitmann which records human gestures. While the expected approach to this may to be film or write it down, Katja Heitmann has dances memorize and perform these movements instead. Some of the unique gifts that come with attempting to archive these personal movements is making it so people are more aware of their habits and it also helps capture these unique movements people have. The challenges of this project can be how people can change their movements and try to “perfect” their habits while being watched and how the movements the dancers learn need to remember it properly.
One example that really stood out to me was Ranti Tijan and how he hides his thumbs and after he realized this he started to wear a yellow jacket. I feel like this example shows on how our movements can reflect our emotions and personality.
Some habitual movements I’ve noticed in people I know well is my friend has a habit of scratching her thumb while sitting and my other friend tends to fidget with her clothes quite a bit and my mother always fixes her headband.
These examples of small movements each mean various different things. For my friends it’s more of a nervous habit, whereas for my mother it’s her way of preparing to start something new.

Field Trip

The class went on a trip to the AGO and Power Plant Art Gallery.

During this trip we saw many interesting works but The Culture exhibition was by far my favourite. I am not very immersed in the hip hop scene, but many of my favourite aritists take influence from hip hop and rap and just seeing the whole exhibit was very interesting, but what caught my eye the most was this piece which showcased many outfits that are seen in the rap and hip hop scene.

In the Power Plant Art Gallery the exhibit that caught my attention the most was “Floating Sea Palace” by Lap-See Lam. The use of shadows and video made the floating restaurant feel almost alive, like it was a person rather than a ship. It evoked a lot of emotions in me. I left feeling quite sad. It felt like the ship was lost and was searching for what I am assuming is a home or something to attach onto and it never found it. The way it told a story about change and how we hold onto memories really touched me and it was something I felt a personal connection to. This exhibit was the highlight of my trip.

I don’t have any pictures from inside the exhibit seeing as I was completely enchanted the whole time, but the way we entered and were given bits of information really grabbed my attention.

One Feat, Three Ways- Blinking

One Shot

Loop

Sequence

Blinking is an instinctive yet intimate act, a fleeting gesture of both vulnerability and communication. In this series, the simple action of blinking is transformed into a subtle, silent exchange—one that plays with rhythm, perception, and participation. Through three distinct video structures—Sequence, Loop, and One Shot—the act of blinking becomes a dynamic interaction, inviting both observation and engagement.

Sequence: A structured exchange where each participant blinks one after another, forming a rhythmic pattern akin to a visual relay. This arrangement emphasizes anticipation and control, as the viewer follows the deliberate pacing of each blink, highlighting the individual within the collective.
Loop: A continuous cycle where all three individuals blink at the camera simultaneously, removing hierarchy and creating a hypnotic, synchronous rhythm. The repetition blurs the distinction between individual and group, reinforcing the cyclical nature of blinking as both an unconscious function and a shared experience.
One Shot: A direct confrontation between two individuals engaging in a silent blinking ‘tag.’ Through eye contact and shifting frequencies, the game unfolds organically, creating tension and playfulness within the frame. The unpredictability of the exchange leaves room for spontaneity, drawing the audience into the immediacy of the moment.

A cohesive yet varied color palette enhances the depth of each composition, while eye-level framing establishes an equal playing field, placing the viewer in direct engagement with the participants. Across all three formats, the videos explore the mechanics of nonverbal communication, turning an everyday gesture into a focal point of interaction, challenge, and subtle expression.

My Crops Are Dying but My Body Persists, Bridget Moser

Bridget Moser’s My Crops Are Dying but My Body Persists uses internet culture, memes, and weird visuals to explore the themes of privilege, identity, and consumerism. They use a combination of “satisfying” videos, distorted music, and robotic voices to create a sense of emptiness and discomfort. For example, the robotic voice saying “I take showers just to pass the time” adds a feeling of detachment, much like the cold tone of many internet memes. I personally don’t like the feeling of such cold feeling sounds so it gave me an eerie vibe.

The video also critiques consumerism through props like gold balloon animals and pink Himalayan salt, creating a “picture-perfect” aesthetic that feels faker than if it wasn’t so curated. Moser’s use of these props, along with the silk pajamas she wears, represents the obsession with beauty and the perfect image, common in influencer culture which is gaining wide spread popularity as of right now.

The video makes me feel physically uncomfortable, especially with the strange acts like putting moisturizer on white bread. It’s unnatural and looks and feels wrong. This sense of discomfort challenges us to question the content we consume since now a lot of content we see is confusing or misleading. Moser’s props, like fake hot dog hands and balloon animals, highlight the emptiness of consumerism.

Overall, this piece helps critique life in modern times and how people strive for perfection, but it’s never fulfilling enough. As Charlene Lau puts it, “the absurdity remains,” highlighting how consumerism and social media contribute to a feeling of emptiness.

Open Studios

On Wednesday we all had the amazing opportunity to go see the masters students studios. It was a very cool and interesting experience and I got to see many of the art from the graduate students. Everyone had such unique ways of work and different focuses on what they wanted to present in their art and it had me think about and question a lot about what I wanted to do and what sort of messages I wanted to display in my work.

One of my favorite pieces was Permissions by Cindy Hill. The sculpture was so intriguing to look at because the star-covered door had a magical quality that really drew me in and made me curious about the story behind it. Another piece that stood out to me quite a lot was a drawing based on Ranma ½, an anime I really enjoy. Seeing something I’m personally connected to represented in an artistic way made the whole experience feel even more engaging.

Something else that really inspired me was seeing one artist’s detailed planning process laid out in their studio. It was interesting to see how much thought and structure went into their work before the final piece even began. It made me want to bring more of that kind of intentionality and thoroughness into my own creative process moving forward. Overall this experience gave me a lot of lessons and many things to consider and look forward to!

Audio Art- Keyboard Rage

For this assignment I decided to record myself playing and raging in a bunch of different games and organizing each rage by intensity.

My goal was to highlight how gaming can trigger a wide range of emotions, from mild annoyance to full-blown outbursts without any verbal frustration being shown. I structured the audio to gradually increase in intensity, creating a buildup that reflects how frustration escalates over time. This project is both a personal reflection and a look at the emotional highs and lows of gaming. Through organizing my own reactions, I hope to capture a relatable experience for anyone who has ever raged at a game.

Conceptual Portrait- People as Flowers

For this assignment I decided to make a series of conceptual portrait posters where I represented people as flowers. The idea came from something I started last year, when I randomly assigned different flowers to people in my life based on how I saw them. That little habit stuck with me, and for this project, I decided to revisit those flower-person pairings and build something more intentional out of them.

Each poster features one person, represented as the flower I had assigned them. Instead of naming the flower, I used the person’s name and referred to them as “this flower” in the description. This way, the viewer is encouraged to think about both the qualities of the flower and the person it represents. I also added a short line of description at the bottom of each poster to tie everything together and give a clearer sense of who they are and why that flower fits them.

My goal with this project was to explore how symbolism can represent personality and how something as simple as a flower can say a lot about a person. It’s a mix of personal reflection and visual metaphor, meant to get people thinking about the connections between nature and identity.

Artist Buttons

For this project, I created a series of artist buttons using the phrases “fight me” and “square up.” I wanted them to feel playful and bold, with a confrontational blurb that grabs attention and sparks a reaction from the other party reading it.

Instead of making buttons that quietly express something personal or decorative, I went for something that felt more like a statement or challenge. These buttons are meant to be worn with attitude. They’re direct, aggressive, but also meant to be taken with humor because at the end of the day it’s only a button to be worn.

I made 10 of each phrase and designed them with the phrases in mind. For the “FIGHT ME” buttons I went for all caps for the provocative nature and italicized the “me” to draw attention to who is starting the fight. Whereas for the “SQUARE UP” one I leaned into more of a humourous feeling with having the square up be inside a literal square to ease some tension from the phrase.

The phrases I used are ones often seen online or in casual arguments, usually not meant seriously but still full of energy that grabs others’ attention. That mix of humor and tension is what I was aiming for. With something as small as a button, I wanted to show how you can still make a strong impression or provoke thought, just through a few carefully chosen words.

Fern

One Kilometer (of noticing)

I took a 1km section of my usual walk to campus and took note of everything that I noticed; any small detail or passing thought that caught my attention for any amount of time was recorded in this notebook.

In the end I’m left with a kilometer, or the remnants of one, represented only through what one noticed and thought about while walking it.

Katja Heitmann article response:

1.

In choreographer Katja Heitmann’s project “Motus Mori”, she sets out with the aim of creating a kind of physical archive of people’s personal and specific gestures. These gestures are “donated” by individuals, observed and practiced by trained dancers, and then reinterpreted as choreography to be performed. The dancers, no matter how skilled in the art of body movement, will never get a gesture exactly right; even aside from the countless influences on movement like body type and proportions, imitation is an inherently imperfect art. So Heitmann and her dancers turn the archive into a dance instead. Archived are the choreographed essences of each movement in an ephemeral live performance.

Though, in this positive embracing of imperfection, equally, there arises challenges. In prioritizing the interpretation of the movement over the direct replication of it, the performance partially fails in being an archive, as it is asserted to be. Yes, the essence of each movement is preserved, but the movement itself in its original form, how it exists in the original donor’s body will still die with the person it belongs to. If this project were to be an archive, I feel the arbitrator of choreography sullies the effort. Viewed primarily as an art project instead, is where it truly shines, and is a very interesting idea. The endeavor to preserve personal gestures in any form is remarkable regardless.

This project holds the possibility for many unexpected gifts. With the unique opportunity of showing someone what their body movements look like from the outside, fascinating things start happening. As a few donors remarks, feeling like one “owns” their gesture after seeing it be something to personalized, or seeing through a performer how they skirt attention with their body language and wanting to make a change in that for the better. For others, this project holds the gestures of people dear to them, some of them now passed. Parts of them live on through this performance, and their loved ones have the chance to visit the exhibition as a form of remembrance, or a farewell.

2.

The most striking example of movement in this article was that of the dancer imitating the young boy. It stood out to me firstly because of the vast difference in body size and proportions between a young child and a fully grown adult. The longer I watched, however, the more I thought on the fact that the movements the child makes are incredibly rare to see adults do. With more practice with their motor function, adults walk more gracefully than children, and with far different (and more rigid) societal expectations, most adults don’t hold themselves nearly as loose and carefree as children. There is some poetry to be found in an adult performing actions she likely has not done for many years, and in a sense, the dancer returns to her own childhood through repeating these movements. The archive of this young boy holds not only his movements but also distinctly his developmental stage, he is held (for as long as this project lasts) in time at an age before experiencing many of what will be his most defining life achievements and experiences.

3.

When my partner is really focusing on schoolwork, he often ends up sitting on the bed, knees to his chest, crunched up as tight as possible. His feet push against the bed to set himself rocking gently, and his face usually goes blank, eyes resting wider than normal. One hand uses his laptop and the other rests on one of his knees as he chews his nails, sometimes contorting his entire arm to get at a nail at a better angle. Being young and limber lead to this being an uncommon position to see older people take when working.

My mother always wears her curly hair up in a bun, and when it’s down it seems she always has a hand in it. She fidgets a lot, and when her hair is down it becomes a focal point of her fidgets. When she wears it down it’s usually because she’s styled it to go out somewhere, so many of her interactions with it tend to do with its appearance. She’s constantly fluffing it from behind, sweeping it over a shoulder, tucking it and immediately untucking it behind her ears, or idly running her fingers down its length catching and undoing all the knots of hairspray.

Only a couple years ago my sibling started growing out, painting, and caring more for their nails. Though it doesn’t feel like its been very long, visiting home its interesting to already see how they’re accustomed to moving around and interacting with the world like they have long nails, even when they’re cut short for the moment. They continue to type on their phone and keyboard with the flats of their fingers, they very delicately pinch at their eyelashes with their thumb and forefinger with their hand turned inwards so their nails are pointed away from their open eye. Their entire grip on things like utensils is adjusted to accommodate long nails, even in their absence. The rest of their body movements are unaffected, but their hands additionally move slower and more precisely, learned after too many times jamming or breaking off a fingernail with quick movements.

Field Trip Notes

I love artworks that are explained or take on a new/further meaning after reading the title and exhibit label, so I found the piece of gold chains hung on a black background in the shape of the African Diaspora very intriguing. Its simplistic design was very clever (contextless on its own, but possibly recognizable to some before they even read the exhibit label) and chock-full of metaphor. The piece depicting a refurbished cop car cut in half, suspended on cinderblocks, and graffitied, was also one that developed new meaning after reading the exhibit label. The person I visited the exhibit with even partially brushed past it until I relayed the accompanying description, and they were likewise intrigued by it. The meaning of the piece I thought was beautiful—as many memorial artworks are—and each aspect held striking symbolism for the overall meaning of the piece.

Similarly, it seems I’m also drawn to artworks that take figuring out, and/or evolve the longer you look at it. The piece “RID UM” by Wilmer Wilson IV was one I was mildly interested in until I read the exhibit label and got to look at it again in new light. Initially I didn’t look too closely and thought it was an image made of sequins or some similar material, I was surprised to read that instead, it was a printed image densely covered in staples, evocative of telephone poles holding the remnants of countless posters over many years.

Shirt’s piece “Don’t Talk To Me About No Significance Of Art” was also one I found myself thinking about a lot. This was a piece that was also heightened by reading the background context provided by the exhibit label. The part on opinions on photography gathered from mainly non-photographers was thought-provoking, and adapted further into the meaning of this piece, provocative and relevant.

I took away more from this exhibition than I thought I would and (as one usually more partial to classical art) I enjoyed it more than expected. I took away many peeks into many more perspectives than my own, as well as some new understandings of hip-hop culture and some of the things influential to it. There were many artists I took note of as I walked through the exhibit to find later on and follow the rest of their works.

This exhibition showcased an impressively wide variety of mediums and got me thinking about the flexibility of contemporary art, and the many possible utilizations of its nonconformity; ideas of which I can then incorporate into my own practice.

One feat, Three ways: Censor

The jumping off point for this project was a question of “how difficult can we make a single simple task?”. From here we developed it into an idea of inhibiting a simple task (like reading) in as many ways as possible. This idea of inhibiting transformed into specifically censoring, and the rest of the project follows.

One-shot:

Our single shot video for this project primarily showcases auditory censoring; reading each book over another voice also doing the same makes it nearly impossible to discern the words of either novel, creating a wall of noise. For the performers, we are both inhibited by the other holding the book we’re reading from: lines and words are often skipped, and paragraphs are abandoned when the sentences are blocked by a hand in the way. The initial concept shines through here in us both having to work around another person to do something as simple as turn a page.

Loop:

The selective censoring makes it slightly more interesting for the viewer than simply running the marker across each line fully. This shot is filmed close enough to the book that the viewer can easily read the words on the page, but in trying to do so it becomes clear that the censoring is also often too fast to get through a full sentence if one were reading just ahead of the marker. Initially, the words being censored tend to be the more controversial words (referring to a prostitute, profanity, conversations about age gaps before sex) but it quickly develops into censoring arbitrary words. We wanted to lean into the nonsensical censoring to mirror the equally nonsensical reasons many books become banned.

Sequence:

Our sequence consists of various ways to visually censor words on a page, or otherwise destroy the pages themselves and render them unreadable. This further explores our point of heavy-handed censoring, this time focusing more on the censoring of entire books that only contain controversial aspects in small parts, as well as the destructive nature of censoring. This sequence is also a kind of loop, with a calm page turn separating each act of destruction, effectively moving past the parts lost and spreading open a new attempt each time.

1 Minute Audio

The specific feeling of grief I’ve been experiencing since our family pet died is something I’ve been trying to communicate through both art and film, and this project was an attempt to relay it through audio alone.

The first half of this is audio from a video taken last summer of my sibling, my partner, and I in the living room with him, getting him to talk back to us and laughing each time he does. At 35 seconds, the audio abruptly cuts to a new clip, this one recorded in the exact same spot, this year, without him in it. The only sounds the second time around are the ambiance of the house and my mother muttering to herself across the room.

Being such a talkative (and generally loud) cat, I wanted to highlight how, even through only a single sense, his absence is tangible; and through that absence the remaining ambiance of the same room (like the ticking of a clock) is more noticeable, and even seems louder.

Conceptual Portrait

Little Red Box of Obituaries and Unsent Letters

I am a person of many unsaid words. I have also, in recent years, found myself experiencing a lot of anticipatory grief. This portrait takes the form of a collection of letters I have written over the years to cope with both of these things.

When I was in high-school, I started writing letters as a way to manage all the emotions and thoughts I had but couldn’t share. It acted as a way to get these things out of my head where they circled and nagged at my thoughts, to be able to express these emotions in the moment and move on from them. I found it actually helped greatly, and I continue to write such letters to this day. The idea of writing obituaries for people that are still very much alive seems morbid, but I write each one more as a piece on remembrance and appreciation rather than focusing overly on grieving.

This project serves as a portrait not just of me now but me at many earlier stages of my life. Whereas every piece of myself I externalize and share through my art or normal conversation, this piece is captured, thought in a way that partially maintains it as internalized and private. Even for these earlier written letters, I wrote them and tucked them away, not intending them to be read again. Each existing letter was read only once more to be transcribed, and sealed away again to continue the intent of this project.

Included in this box are letters and obituaries for my parents, current and past friends, younger versions of myself, and strangers.

Though this is an unfinished project (more letters and obituaries will be added as I write them) each envelope is sealed, dated, and placed in the box not to be opened and read again.

Artist Multiples

For this project I made a collection of pins that exist more as a wearable art collection/statement. I juxtaposed human destruction and worship of nature, pairing 10 lines from Mary Oliver’s To Begin With, The Sweet Grass with cropped images of nature from the National Geographic archive, and 10 lines from the long-term nuclear waste warning message with cropped photographs from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster clean-up efforts.

I did handpick lines from both the poem and the warning message, though each line exists in its original form, punctuation included, I chose lines that looked and read better on their own, as well as leaving out lines I felt made the pins too self-referential or self-aware of their existence as buttons to be worn. Some lines were also chosen to specifically feel like they are speaking to the viewer; if worn around in public, making this project a sort of call to action or accusation.

I chose images from National Geographic and placed the text on top in white boxes to emulate the style of pins hand made from cut up magazines at summer camps and school craft days, partially for aesthetics, and partially for more juxtaposition of a childish activity and a more mature issue.

Excepts used

Lines from long-term nuclear waste warning message used are:

Sending this message was important to us.
We considered ourselves to be a powerful culture.
This place is not a place of honour.
No highly esteemed deed is commemorated here.
Nothing valued is here.
What is here was dangerous and repulsive to us.
The danger is still present, in your time, as it was in ours.
The danger is to the body, and it can kill.
The form of danger is an emanation of energy.
This place is best left shunned and uninhabited.

The lines from To Begin With, The Sweet Grass are:

This world is not just a little thrill for the eyes.
It’s more than bones.
It’s more than the delicate wrist with its personal pulse.
It’s more than the beating of the single heart.
It’s praising.
It’s giving until the giving feels like receiving.
Do you also think that beauty exists for some fabulous reason?
What would do for you?
I would like to give you this chance.
Love yourself. Then forget it. Then, love the world.