Works in Practice | United Contemporary | Scotiabank CONTACT Festival | Toronto | May 11–Jun 17, 2023
Works in Practice
Curated by Adrien Sun Hall
Presented by United Contemporary
as part of Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival
Reception May 13, 1–4pm
Curator Talk June 10, 2–3pm
Location + Hours
Featuring works derived from the unique creative practices of Cassils, Suzanne Nacha, Roula Partheniou, and Gordon Shadrach, Works in Practice explores the use of photography and image-making by artists whose practices are centred in the mediums of performance, painting, and sculpture. Using a range of methods, the artists capture photographs at various stages of their process as a means of ideation, translation, and documentation.
Facade (Brick and Shingle), 2023
framed archival pigment print, Edition of 3. 30 x 20 in.
Extended Cord, 2023
framed archival pigment print, Edition of 3. 30 x 20 in.
ARTIST STATEMENT
I have two pieces in "Works in Practice", curated by Adrian Sun Hall. The curatorial framework centers around the question of how artists make photographs iteratively, as a way of manifesting and informing their work, which led me to consider the ways this plays out in my practice:
Extended Cord reflects the object play that happens privately in the studio, while works are still in progress. This photo was taken in the process of documenting a finished sculptural work and captures one of many alternate possibilities of a given piece before its finalized. Extended Cord is a playful iteration of the final form.
I frequently take photos to register objects or object intersections that resonate with my own visual language and material logic - ie. snapshot photography-as-sketchbook. Facade (Brick and Shingle) reflects this practice.
My work has affinities to language and grammar, and in thinking about the relationship between my studio work to these research snapshots, I see the space inbetween as both a conversation and a mode of study - a process by which I attempt to reflect, parse, distill, describe, reiterate and rearticulate my enchantment/ experience of these encountered objects or object relationships.
The photos become prompts: the question - 'what is it about this thing?' - persistently nags.
These photos both directly and indirectly inform my work, sometimes immediately or many years later.