{"id":18,"date":"2022-09-13T14:08:13","date_gmt":"2022-09-13T18:08:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/?p=18"},"modified":"2022-12-01T00:45:51","modified_gmt":"2022-12-01T05:45:51","slug":"catherine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/2022\/09\/13\/catherine\/","title":{"rendered":"Catherine"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Mushroom Forage &#8211; Oct 5, 2022<br><\/strong>Artist&#8217;s Conk spores&#8230; making more artists!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video\"><video height=\"720\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1280 \/ 720;\" width=\"1280\" controls src=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/10\/Spores-Mushroom-Forage.mp4\"><\/video><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Robin Wall Kimmerer is a mother, scientist, prof, and member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"425\" src=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/10\/pngwing.com_.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-285\" srcset=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/10\/pngwing.com_.png 300w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/10\/pngwing.com_-212x300.png 212w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><sup>Drawing of Sweet Grass (Image credit: pngwing.com)<\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">Learning the Grammar of Animacy<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p>In Potawatomi 101, rocks are animate, as are mountains and water and fire and places. Beings that are imbued with spirit, our sacred medicines, our songs, drums, and even stories, are all animate.<\/p><cite>Robin Wall Kimmerer<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Kimmerer explains what drew her to botany\u2014it was the desire to learn the language she heard in the woods<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In learning Botany, this was different than the language of the woods<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In science, language is of seeing, naming objects, categorizing them\u2014she describes it as being constrained by our knowing<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In contrast to scientific language, she describes Potawatomi, and many Indigenous languages, where there are very few fluent speakers because of government schools, residential schools where it was forbidden and punishable to speak one\u2019s language<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Kimmerer describes the loss and her desire to learn and reconnect with Potawatami<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Much of the words are verbs &#8211; Examples of verbs include to be a bay, to be a hill, to be a Saturday.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Doesn\u2019t assign masculine\/feminine forms, way of speaking of living world is different from inanimate world<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Animate beings aren\u2019t referred to as \u2018it\u2019, an object<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p>Language reminds us, in every sentence, of our kinship with all the animate world.<\/p><cite>Robin Wall Kimmerer<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Language mirrors the animacy of the world<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Embedded within language is a reminder of our kinship with all the animate world<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Language itself is a tool for respecting animacy<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Words and language are the heart of culture, holding thoughts and a way of seeing the world<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:15px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">Mishkos Kenomagwen: The Teachings of Grass<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p><em>It is not the land which is broken, but our relationship to the land.<\/em><\/p><cite>Robin Wall Kimmerer<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>In this chapter, Kimmerer shares the teachings of grass through a study she and her grad student Laurie took on about sweetgrass<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>They were asked by basket weavers whether different ways of harvesting might cause the leaving of sweetgrass, noticing some areas had healthy, replenishing amounts of sweetgrass and others didn\u2019t<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The chapter is written in subsections that mirror technical writing: intro, literature review, hypothesis, methods, results, discussion, conclusions, acknowledgements and references cited<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Tight format of scientific thinking<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Problematic exclusion of knowledge outside of scientific canon, western scientific canon is only truth in this type of institution<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>There\u2019s pushback against the study in the form of a dismissive thesis committee who criticize that there isn\u2019t valid scientific theory to support such a study and claims the answer to the proposed research is already known<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>They do the study anyhow where they compared plots of sweetgrass where half was picked in accordance to the traditional way of harvesting, that you only pick half.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>by pulling up the roots and half was picked by pinching just above the surface of the soil<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Compared this to control plots where no sweetgrass was picked<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Results show that picking sweetgrass stimulated growth, didn\u2019t matter how it was picked,<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Reciprocal relationship between humans and sweetgrass developed over long long time of cultural use, where disturbances were needed for sweetgrass to thrive<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>THE HONOURABLE HARVEST<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Never take the first one (And that means you\u2019ll never take the last)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Ask permission<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Listen for the answer<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Take only what you need<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Minimize harm and benefit the plant<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Use everything you take<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Be grateful<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Share what you\u2019ve taken<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Reciprocate the gift<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sustainable harvesting can be a way to treat a plant with respect, by respectfully receiving its gifts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p>Sustain the ones who sustain us and the earth will last forever.<\/p><cite>Robin Wall Kimmerer<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Reciprocity \u2013 more expansive idea than just sustainability, which is still focused on ownership over what we call resources<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Reciprocity \u2013 earth not only sustains us but we have capacity and responsibility to sustain her in return<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Mutual flourishing rather than just continuing to take<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>We humans have gifts that we can give in return for all that is given to us \u2013 there\u2019s a generative and creative way to be a human in the world, of knowing your gift and how to give it, on behalf of the land and of the people.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:14px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"><em>Some Terms<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table is-style-stripes\"><table><tbody><tr><td>Animacy<\/td><td>Potawatami<\/td><td>Puhpowee<\/td><td>Mishkos<\/td><td>Scientific Method<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>State of being alive and animate<br><br>Grammatical and semantic feature existing in some languages, expressing how sentient or alive the referent of a noun is<\/td><td>pow\u00b7tuh\u00b7<strong>waa<\/strong>\u00b7tuh\u00b7mee<br><br>Algonquian language spoken in Southern Ontario in Canada, and in Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin and Kansas in the USA<br><br>In 2012 there were nine elderly speakers<br><\/td><td>Force that causes mushrooms to push up from the earth overnight<br>Rising, emergence, growth<br>No such term in Western science, represents an understanding of a world of <strong>being<\/strong>, unseen energies that animate everything<\/td><td>Potawatomi word for \u2018grass\u2019<br><br>Sweetgrass = <em>wiingaashk <\/em>&nbsp;= <em>Hierochloe odorata<\/em><\/td><td>Process of establishing facts through testing and experimentation<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:21px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"><strong><em>Reflections<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Colonial and misogynistic fingerprints on science &#8211; personally experienced\/witnessed<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Human-centric worldview vs more-than-human<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Influence of language on how we understand and perceive the world<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Relationship with our materials and lived experience of materials &#8211;&gt; parallels of rocks and photography; stills that are compressions of time<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>How does this affect art practice? Some of my materials (rocks) are taken from the land. Does this do more harm to disturb the ecosystem? Thinking about the Honourable Harvest from the Teachings of Grass and importance + practice of asking for permission AND listening for the answer. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Came across this beautiful <em>animate<\/em> rock when I was collecting in the Algonquin Highlands, looking for stones that already had stress fractures in them, and when I saw this one &#8220;piecing&#8221; itself back together with moss and lichen, I wanted to collect it! A few times repeatedly, I reached out then stopped myself, wanting to have this &#8216;object&#8217; that encapsulates so much of what I&#8217;m thinking about and working through in my practice and also fighting the compulsion to have\/own\/collect it! Felt wrong to remove the rock and better to leave her be, seeing this rock + moss + lichen in the act of putting herself back together in a new way. Asking for permission, hearing &#8220;no&#8221;. So I did a photo instead.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/10\/permission-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-286\" srcset=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/10\/permission-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/10\/permission-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/10\/permission-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/10\/permission.jpg 1400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><sup>Canadian Shield, near Derrick and Rachel\u2019s Cottage (not collected).<\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u201cWe are in a time of new suns\u201d by Adrienne Maree Brown<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Adrienne Maree Brown is described as &#8220;a student of complexity. A student of change and of how groups change together. A \u201cscholar of belonging.\u201d A \u201cscholar of magic.\u201d&#8221; and I love that one&#8217;s identity can encapsulate the dynamism of being, knowing, learning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What caught my attention in this podcast (I read the transcript first, then listened to her voice) was her thoughts on spirituality, the spiritual background of her childhood being a more direct and action-based, practice-based spirituality that transitioned from evangelical Christianity. Her parents were an interracial marriage in the 70s making a world unto themselves that didn&#8217;t exist, brought their family out into nature, in parks, in the mountains to look at the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Gratitude and compassion were the spiritual practices that threaded throughout. Being amazed by the world, to travel, be curious. Encountering intense racism, there was compassion for the struggle of the other person. The recognition of this short time we have to imagine\/create how to make more possible, transform beyond the constructs and toward community, liberation and justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Teachers are in the natural world. Her discussion of mushrooms as understanding that nothing needs to be wasted&#8211;that everything can be used if we understand what that is. Nature teaches that when something needs nourishing or when it&#8217;s done and complete, it needs to be processed back into the whole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"550\" height=\"533\" src=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/10\/B002SVQD6Y_ca210fe5_image2.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-327\" srcset=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/10\/B002SVQD6Y_ca210fe5_image2.jpeg 550w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/10\/B002SVQD6Y_ca210fe5_image2-300x291.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><sup>Illustration by Robert Ingpen, from &#8220;Lifetimes: The Beautiful Way to Explain Death to Children&#8221; <\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The idea of vitality having endings in it resonates. I think a lot about impermanence, both in my practice as well as in living (though these aren&#8217;t really separate). When my older daughter was two years old, I wanted to learn how to talk with kids about death. At that age, it&#8217;s abstract, but many kids are intuitive and understand\/experience loss even when they can&#8217;t describe what they&#8217;re feeling. My readings into how to talk about death in age-appropriate ways were instigated not by the death of close family members or friends at that time, but by the deaths and loss portrayed in Disney movies we were starting to watch together. <\/p>\n\n\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-indent: -18pt\"><!-- [if !supportLists]--><span style=\"font-family: Symbol\">\u00b7<span style=\"font: 7.0pt 'Times New Roman'\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/span>Frozen &#8211; Anna and Elsa&#8217;s parents die in a shipwreck as they search for answers to the origins of Elsa&#8217;s magic<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><!-- \/wp:post-content --><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-left: 36.0pt;text-indent: -18.0pt\"><!-- [if !supportLists]--><span style=\"font-family: Symbol\">\u00b7 <\/span>Lion King &#8211; Mufasa dies at the hands of his brother while Simba watches and believes it to be his fault<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-left: 36.0pt;text-indent: -18.0pt\"><!-- [if !supportLists]--><span style=\"font-family: Symbol\">\u00b7<span style=\"font: 7.0pt 'Times New Roman'\"> &nbsp;<\/span><\/span>Bambi &#8211; Bambie&#8217;s mother is shot by a hunter<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-left: 36.0pt;text-indent: -18.0pt\"><!-- [if !supportLists]--><span style=\"font-family: Symbol\">\u00b7 <\/span>Every tug-at-your-heart Pixar\/Disney movie such as Up, Toy Story 2 (&#8220;When She Loved Me&#8221;), Finding Nemo\/Dory, Wall-E, Inside Out (Bing Bong), Big Hero 6&#8230;the studio knows what they&#8217;re doing!<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p>Many parents I spoke with brushed death under the table or denied it when trying to explain to their kids what happened in these movies. The desire to protect others from pain is understandable.<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p>In the podcast, Adrienne Maree Brown continues on, that the beautiful miracle of life happens because we live in cycles, not in perpetuity. Holding onto things when it&#8217;s time to let it die puts us in a precarious position.<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:pullquote --><\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\">\n<blockquote>\n<p>This is actually one of our biggest issues right now is we\u2019re so scared of death. And so we think about how do we make people live forever, and how do we look young forever, and do all this stuff instead of being like, Oh, no. How do I get good at dying? How do I get to where I\u2019ll be at peace when my time comes, because there\u2019s other generations that need to survive off of the resources of this place?<\/p>\n<h5><strong><cite>Adrienne Maree Brown<\/cite><\/strong><\/h5>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n<p><!-- \/wp:pullquote --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p>There are some good books to read with kids about death. The idea of learning about life cycles from the natural world (which we are a part of) often brings me to a passage from the book &#8220;Lifetimes: The Beautiful Way to Explain Death to Children&#8221; by Bryan Mellonie and Robert Eingpen.<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:pullquote --><\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\">\n<blockquote>\n<p>There is a beginning<\/p>\n<p>and an ending for everything<\/p>\n<p>that is alive.<\/p>\n<p>In between is living.<\/p>\n<h5><strong><cite>Bryan Mellonie and Robert Eingpen<\/cite><\/strong><\/h5>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n<p><!-- \/wp:pullquote --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p>This phrase is repeated throughout the text of the book, alongside illustrations of plants and animals (including people). Beautiful reminders that dying is a part of living just as being born is. Books on grief that are written for children are apt for adults too, given how much we tend to turn\/run away from death and loss.<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p>Letting go is a practice, one I&#8217;m reminding myself to do and am exploring in my grad project with the repair of stones. I think my artistic practice is becoming one of learning to let go, which is hard to do for someone who desires certainty and is a self-described perfectionist.<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p>To learn to let go, I was taught by a friend and spiritual teacher to open up my palms, facing upward to the sky. We receive joy but don&#8217;t grasp onto it, letting it go out into the world. We do this similarly for grief and hardship, to open our palms upward. It sits there but it can also go out into the world. It reminds me of the idea of reciprocity that Robin Wall Kimmerer shares. Mutual receiving of gifts with the world, which in my mind includes joy and sorrow, and the mutual letting go of it too.<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p>The practice of letting go encompasses more than death and loss. It also provides an active way to counter our compulsion to &#8220;own&#8221; the natural world and her &#8220;resources&#8221;. We receive with joy and gratitude, and let go with compassion and gratitude to be, as Adrienne Maree Brown puts it, &#8220;put back into the whole&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p>The artwork of Motoi Yamamoto calls this practice into mind. Yamamoto is an artist born in Onomichi, Hiroshima Prefecture in 1966. He graduated from Kanazawa College of Art in 1995 and currently live in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture. A primary part of his practice is salt drawings. For this, he creates large installations of patterns on the floor drawn in salt, taking several days to several weeks to draw them.<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:image {\"align\":\"center\",\"id\":349,\"sizeSlug\":\"large\",\"linkDestination\":\"none\"} --><\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"827\" class=\"wp-image-349 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/10\/labyrinth_2006_charleston-02-1-1024x827.jpg\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/10\/labyrinth_2006_charleston-02-1-1024x827.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/10\/labyrinth_2006_charleston-02-1-300x242.jpg 300w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/10\/labyrinth_2006_charleston-02-1-768x620.jpg 768w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/10\/labyrinth_2006_charleston-02-1.jpg 1400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption><sup>Motoi Yamamoto creating a salt installation. Image source: www.motoi-works.com<\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><!-- \/wp:image --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:image {\"align\":\"center\",\"id\":354,\"sizeSlug\":\"large\",\"linkDestination\":\"none\"} --><\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"730\" class=\"wp-image-354 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/10\/labyrinth_2010_cologne-01_-1024x730-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/10\/labyrinth_2010_cologne-01_-1024x730-1.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/10\/labyrinth_2010_cologne-01_-1024x730-1-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/10\/labyrinth_2010_cologne-01_-1024x730-1-768x548.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><p><\/p>\n<figcaption><sup>&#8220;Labrynth&#8221; by Motoi Yamamoto. Kunst Station St. Peter, Cologne \/ Solo Exhibition ; SALZ \/ 2010. Photo by Stefan Worring. Image source: www.motoi-works.com<\/sup><\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n<p><!-- \/wp:image --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p>His choice of salt stems from its use in funerary customs in Japan. Salt represents purification and cleansing. Salt is also needed by the human body to survive. Yamamoto lost his sister in her 20s to brain cancer in 1994 and his wife of over 25 years passed away in 2016 from breast cancer. Yamamoto writes, &#8220;I keep creating so that I will not forget memories of my family.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:image {\"align\":\"center\",\"id\":345,\"sizeSlug\":\"large\",\"linkDestination\":\"none\"} --><\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" class=\"wp-image-345 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/10\/season_2018_kanazawa-11_-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/10\/season_2018_kanazawa-11_-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/10\/season_2018_kanazawa-11_-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/10\/season_2018_kanazawa-11_-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/10\/season_2018_kanazawa-11_.jpg 1400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><p><\/p>\n<figcaption><sup>Motoi Yamamoto creating salt drawings. Image source: www.motoi-works.com<\/sup><\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n<p><!-- \/wp:image --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p>For his &#8220;Return to the Sea&#8221; project, on the final day of these exhibitions, the artist works together with viewers for whom the work resonates to destroy the work, collect the salt and return the salt to the sea, &#8220;to the natural cycle once more&#8221; (Yamamoto). Since 2006, thousands of people have participated in this project helping return salt to seas around the world.<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:image {\"id\":358,\"sizeSlug\":\"large\",\"linkDestination\":\"none\"} --><\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"886\" height=\"886\" class=\"wp-image-358 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/10\/project-03.jpg\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/10\/project-03.jpg 886w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/10\/project-03-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/10\/project-03-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/10\/project-03-768x768.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 886px) 100vw, 886px\" \/><p><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"vertical-align: super;color: initial\">&#8220;Return to the Sea&#8221; project by Motoi Yamamoto. Image source: www.motoi-works.com<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p><!-- \/wp:image --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:image {\"id\":360,\"sizeSlug\":\"large\",\"linkDestination\":\"none\"} --><\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"685\" class=\"wp-image-360\" src=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/10\/sea-06-1024x685-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/10\/sea-06-1024x685-1.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/10\/sea-06-1024x685-1-300x201.jpg 300w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/10\/sea-06-1024x685-1-768x514.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><p><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"vertical-align: super;color: initial\">&#8220;Return to the Sea&#8221; project by Motoi Yamamoto. Image source: www.motoi-works.com<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p><!-- \/wp:image --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:image {\"id\":359,\"sizeSlug\":\"large\",\"linkDestination\":\"none\"} --><\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"680\" class=\"wp-image-359\" src=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/10\/sea-09-1024x680-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/10\/sea-09-1024x680-1.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/10\/sea-09-1024x680-1-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/10\/sea-09-1024x680-1-768x510.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><p><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"vertical-align: super;color: initial\">&#8220;Return to the Sea&#8221; project by Motoi Yamamoto. Image source: www.motoi-works.com<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p><!-- \/wp:image --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:separator --><\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"><!-- \/wp:separator --><p><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:heading --><\/p>\n<h2>&#8220;How Should Art Recon with Climate Change?&#8221; by Zoe Lescaze<\/h2>\n<p><!-- \/wp:heading --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:pullquote --><\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\">\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cGreat art [\u2026] connects us to what might yet be possible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><cite>Attributed to Rainer O. Neugebauer<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n<p><!-- \/wp:pullquote --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph {\"align\":\"left\"} --><\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left\">Science suggesting anthropogenic climate change has been around for decades before climate change was getting mainstream traction<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph {\"align\":\"left\"} --><\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left\">I learned of and studied climate change beginning in 1996 when I started my undergrad in the sciences<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph {\"align\":\"left\"} --><\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left\">There\u2019s been a big lag in acknowledging, believing, addressing climate change<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph {\"align\":\"left\"} --><\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left\">Bill McKibben noted the indifference from culture sectors for climate change in relation to other crises such as AIDS<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph {\"align\":\"left\"} --><\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left\">Notes that outpouring of art has had political effect on addressing AIDS<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph {\"align\":\"left\"} --><\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left\">There\u2019s more support now for environmentally conscious art; I think this may be related to climate change and its impacts making it more into mainstream media and consciousness, and cultural production is reflecting that<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph {\"align\":\"left\"} --><\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left\">As with other forms of climate action, there\u2019s challenge that some exhibitions and artworks are addressing climate change because it\u2019s trendy to do so, akin to greenwashing<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph {\"align\":\"left\"} --><\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left\">Some artworks seen as agitprop: without naming names, author referenced an Olafur Eliasson work as agitprop that I actually find quite powerful! <em><strong>Ice Watch<\/strong><\/em> is the installation referred to in the article by Lescaze, where pieces of ice cast off the Greenland Ice Sheet were collected and shipped to Copenhagen to mark the publication of the 5th IPCC Assessment Report.<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:image {\"id\":413,\"sizeSlug\":\"large\",\"linkDestination\":\"none\"} --><\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"805\" class=\"wp-image-413\" src=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/30B9648-1024x805.jpg\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/30B9648-1024x805.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/30B9648-300x236.jpg 300w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/30B9648-768x604.jpg 768w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/30B9648.jpg 1400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><p><\/p>\n<figcaption><sup>A project by Olafur Eliasson and Minik Rosing marking the UN IPCC\u2019s 5th Assessment Report on Climate Change. City Hall Square, Copenhagen. October 26\u201329, 2014 .<\/sup><\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n<p><!-- \/wp:image --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:image {\"id\":414,\"sizeSlug\":\"large\",\"linkDestination\":\"none\"} --><\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"761\" class=\"wp-image-414\" src=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/30B9785-1024x761.jpg\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/30B9785-1024x761.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/30B9785-300x223.jpg 300w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/30B9785-768x571.jpg 768w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/30B9785.jpg 1400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><p><\/p>\n<figcaption><sup>Listening to the sounds of ice. Image source: https:\/\/olafureliasson.net\/icewatchcopenhagen<\/sup><\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n<p><!-- \/wp:image --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:image {\"id\":415,\"sizeSlug\":\"large\",\"linkDestination\":\"none\"} --><\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" class=\"wp-image-415\" src=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/2014-10-08-17.43.16-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/2014-10-08-17.43.16-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/2014-10-08-17.43.16-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/2014-10-08-17.43.16-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/2014-10-08-17.43.16.jpg 1400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><p><\/p>\n<figcaption><sup>Harvesting ice floating in Nuup Kangerlua, Greenland. Image source: https:\/\/olafureliasson.net\/icewatchcopenhagen<\/sup><\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n<p><!-- \/wp:image --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p>This type of work is compared with quieter works that don\u2019t necessarily intend to be commentary on climate change, but end of being so, eg. Roni Horn\u2019s Vatnasafn\/Library of Water, which I found subtle, quiet and beautiful.<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:image {\"id\":416,\"sizeSlug\":\"large\",\"linkDestination\":\"none\"} --><\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" class=\"wp-image-416\" src=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/LibraryOfWater-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/LibraryOfWater-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/LibraryOfWater-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/LibraryOfWater-768x511.jpg 768w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/LibraryOfWater.jpg 1275w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><p><\/p>\n<figcaption><sup>&#8220;Vatnasafn \/ Library of Water&#8221; by Roni Horn. Image source: https:\/\/www.west.is\/en\/service\/library-of-water<\/sup><\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n<p><!-- \/wp:image --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p>The cylindrical forms are evocative of ice cores, collected for reconstructing past climate conditions:<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:image {\"id\":417,\"sizeSlug\":\"large\",\"linkDestination\":\"none\"} --><\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" class=\"wp-image-417\" src=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/WAIS_ICECORE-HR-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/WAIS_ICECORE-HR-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/WAIS_ICECORE-HR-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/WAIS_ICECORE-HR-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/WAIS_ICECORE-HR.jpg 1400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><p><\/p>\n<figcaption><sup>&#8220;<em>The dark band in this ice core from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet Divide (WAIS Divide) is a layer of volcanic ash that settled on the ice sheet approximately 21,000 years ago. Credit: Heidi Roop, NSF<\/em>&#8221; Image source: https:\/\/icecores.org\/about-ice-cores<\/sup><\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n<p><!-- \/wp:image --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p>Although environmental destruction has occurred since at least the Industrial Revolution, article notes that explicitly environmental art depicting degradation didn\u2019t really happen until around 1960s<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p>Prior to that, painters depicted the landscape as \u201ctimeless, immutable and impervious to human influence.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p>Thomas Cole helped popularize the natural world as an idealized and sublime landscape<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p>Romantic landscape paintings = The Picturesque = nature unspoiled by human intervention<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:image {\"align\":\"center\",\"id\":418,\"sizeSlug\":\"full\",\"linkDestination\":\"none\"} --><\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"430\" class=\"wp-image-418\" src=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/Hudson3.jpg.optimal.jpg\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/Hudson3.jpg.optimal.jpg 600w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/Hudson3.jpg.optimal-300x215.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><p><\/p>\n<figcaption><sup>&#8220;In the Mountains&#8221; by Albert Bierstadt, 1867.<\/sup><\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n<p><!-- \/wp:image --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>It makes me wonder if this idyllic thinking and image-making contributed to the delay in climate action<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p>Visual depictions can instigate action, a tenet understood by photojournalists for eg, photographing humanitarian crises in order to bring attention to these and give them a voice<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p>Tenet that people take action for that which they care about, some photographers who are dedicated to depicting nature to show its beauty and degradation, hence helping people care<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p>Example is <strong>SeaLegacy<\/strong> whose &#8220;mission is to create healthy and abundant oceans, for us and for the planet.&#8221; The organization was co-founded in 2014 by Cristina Mittermeier, who is a pioneer of the modern conservation photography movement, and Paul Nicklen, the renowned National Geographic polar photographer.<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:pullquote --><\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\">\n<blockquote>\n<p>What lies beneath the surface&nbsp;of the thin blue line?<\/p>\n<p>This is the story that SeaLegacy tells. This is the story that sparks a global conversation, and the story that inspires people to act. We believe that producing powerful media and art that gives people hope is imperative. Hope is empowerment. Hope is a solution. Hope is a game changer.<\/p>\n<p><cite>SeaLegacy<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n<p><!-- \/wp:pullquote --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:image {\"id\":419,\"sizeSlug\":\"large\",\"linkDestination\":\"none\"} --><\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"819\" height=\"1024\" class=\"wp-image-419\" src=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/Suspended-Grace-by-Paul-Nicklen-819x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/Suspended-Grace-by-Paul-Nicklen-819x1024.jpg 819w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/Suspended-Grace-by-Paul-Nicklen-240x300.jpg 240w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/Suspended-Grace-by-Paul-Nicklen-768x960.jpg 768w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/Suspended-Grace-by-Paul-Nicklen.jpg 1120w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 819px) 100vw, 819px\" \/><\/figure>\n<p><!-- \/wp:image --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><sup>&#8220;Suspended Grace&#8221; by Paul Nicklen (sperm whales sleeping). Image source: https:\/\/twitter.com\/sea_legacy\/status\/1365043175287627776<\/sup><\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p>Their approach is interesting because <strong>it recognizes the impact of visual storytelling in rallying support and instigating action. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:quote --><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>SeaLegacy works with our council of experts to identify projects that together are building healthy and abundant oceans. We invest in community-centered solutions and rally global support for projects through our massive media footprint.<\/p>\n<p><cite>SeaLegacy<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><!-- \/wp:quote --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:image {\"id\":420,\"sizeSlug\":\"large\",\"linkDestination\":\"none\"} --><\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"388\" class=\"wp-image-420\" src=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/SeaLegacyImpactReport-1024x388.jpg\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/SeaLegacyImpactReport-1024x388.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/SeaLegacyImpactReport-300x114.jpg 300w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/SeaLegacyImpactReport-768x291.jpg 768w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/SeaLegacyImpactReport.jpg 1400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><p><\/p>\n<figcaption><sup><em>SeaLegacy 2018 Impact Report <\/em>(pages 10-11). Source: https:\/\/www.sealegacy.org\/our-work<\/sup><\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n<p><!-- \/wp:image --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p>Example of Mary Mattingly\u2019s \u201cLimnal Lacrimosa\u201d achieves something I aspire to\u2014art that connects, fosters dialogue and creates understanding amongst people with varying perspectives, worldviews, experiences.<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p>I loved learning about John Cage\u2019s organ work \u201cOrgan2\/ASLSP\u201d that started in 2001 and will end in 2640<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p>There&#8217;s so much faith and hope in humanity that people will keep the work going and that we\u2019ll not have destroyed ourselves by then!<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n\n<!-- wp:separator -->\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n<!-- \/wp:separator -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading -->\n<h2>&#8220;Chromophobia&#8221; by David Batchelor<\/h2>\n<!-- \/wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>&#8220;Chromophobia manifests itself in the many and varied attempts to purge colour from culture, to devalue colour, to diminish its significance, to deny its complexity.&#8221; (David Batchelor)<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Purging of colour has long history in Western culture and intellectual thought<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Colour has been object of extreme prejudice in Western culture<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Chromophobia is loathing of colour and fear of corruption through colour<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Accomplished two ways:<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:list {\"ordered\":true} -->\n<ol><!-- wp:list-item -->\n<li>Colour is associated with some \u2018foreign\u2019 body such as, the feminine, oriental, primitive, infantile, vulgar, queer, or pathological\u2014regarded as alien and hence dangerous<\/li>\n<!-- \/wp:list-item -->\n\n<!-- wp:list-item -->\n<li>Colour is consigned to only being superficial, supplementary, inessential, or cosmetic\u2014a secondary quality of experience therefore not worthy of serious consideration<\/li>\n<!-- \/wp:list-item --><\/ol>\n<!-- \/wp:list -->\n\n<!-- wp:pullquote -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p>Since Antiquity, colour has been systematically marginalized, reviled, diminished and degraded.<\/p><cite>David Batchelor<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n<!-- \/wp:pullquote -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Batchelor brings up that the virtuous whiteness of the West conceals the terrors of the flesh and the corruption of the Western ideal of the classical body&#8211;one that is &#8220;pure, polished, unembellished, untouched and untouchable white.&#8221; <\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>It made me think about the insidious ways that this virtuousness &#8220;erased&#8221; bodies with darker skin tones through the racial bias of photography.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:pullquote -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p>In the history of photography and film, getting the right image meant getting the one which conformed to prevalent ideas of humanity. This included ideas of whiteness, of what colour \u2014 what range of hue \u2014 white people wanted white people to be.\u00a0<\/p><cite>Richard Dyer<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n<!-- \/wp:pullquote -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Colour film in the 1940s and 50s was developed for light skin tones&#8211;this was the dominant consumer market at the time.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>So when film companies were defining what an idealized skin tone would be, it was that of a lighter skin tone.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><strong>Shirley Card<\/strong>: For decades, photo labs used an image of a white woman to calibrate colours for printing. Accuracy of colours in photos was largely based on this skin-tone. The &#8216;Shirley Card&#8217; was named after its original model&#8211;one of Kodak&#8217;s employees named Shirley Page. Subsequent cards with other models took on this name of being a &#8216;Shirley Card&#8217; as well.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:image {\"id\":727,\"sizeSlug\":\"large\",\"linkDestination\":\"none\"} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"709\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/ShirleyCard1978-709x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-727\" srcset=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/ShirleyCard1978-709x1024.jpg 709w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/ShirleyCard1978-208x300.jpg 208w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/ShirleyCard1978-768x1110.jpg 768w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/ShirleyCard1978.jpg 969w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 709px) 100vw, 709px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><sup>Shirley Card, 1978. Image credit: New York Times (Courtesy of Hermann Zschiegner)<\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<!-- \/wp:image -->\n\n<!-- wp:pullquote -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p>Photography is not just a system of calibrating light, but a technology of subjective decisions.<\/p><cite>Sarah Lewis<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n<!-- \/wp:pullquote -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>For many decades, the chemical solutions used to develop colour film left out the chemical solutions meant to bring out reddish, yellow, and brown tones.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Shooting film for lighter skin tones hence looked good, darker skin tones didn\u2019t look good, especially noticeable in photos with people of lighter and darker skin tones\u2014person with darker skin tone would lose features in their faces, except for whites of eyes and teeth.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>1960s and 70s: Although Kodak received complaints from parents about graduation photos not capturing colour contrast in diverse groups, the main force of change was due to demand from wood furniture companies and chocolate companies, because photos taken for advertising weren\u2019t rendering differences in tones of wood and milk\/dark chocolate.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph {\"fontSize\":\"x-large\"} -->\n<p class=\"has-x-large-font-size\"><strong>!!!<\/strong><\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:pullquote -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p>It was never black flesh that was addressed as a serious problem at the time.<\/p><cite>Earl Kage, Kodak\u2019s former manager of research and the head of Color Photo Studios<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n<!-- \/wp:pullquote -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In 1990s, designers started to make film and tv cameras that balanced lighter and darker skin tones individually, dual skin-tone balancing technologies.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Around same time, Black Shirley card developed, and Latino Shirley card, and multiracial Shirley cards.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:image {\"id\":729,\"sizeSlug\":\"large\",\"linkDestination\":\"none\"} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/MultiRacialShirleyCard-800x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-729\" srcset=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/MultiRacialShirleyCard-800x1024.jpg 800w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/MultiRacialShirleyCard-234x300.jpg 234w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/MultiRacialShirleyCard-768x983.jpg 768w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/MultiRacialShirleyCard.jpg 1094w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><sup>Kodak\u2019s Multiracial Shirley Card, North America. 1995. Image credit: New York Times (Courtesy of Dr. Lorna Roth, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada)<\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<!-- \/wp:image -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Problematic colour rendering of darker skin tones included reproduction of facial images without details, lighting issues, facial skin colours that look ashen, strong contrast of skin with whites of eyes and teeth.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>This would cause some people to retreat from having their photos taken, because couldn\u2019t get an accurate likeness.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Development of Kodak Gold Max film, advertised as having greater dynamic range, resulted in consumer market film that was \u201cable to photograph the details of a dark horse in lowlight\u201d&#8211;Kodak&#8217;s coded way of saying their film could now photograph darker skin tones that it hadn&#8217;t been developed to do before.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>What lingering and ongoing effects has this had on representation of diversity in media? Learned preference for lighter skin occurs in many parts of the world and starts early, influenced by media representation.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Syreeta McFadden&#8211;a writer and English professor at the Borough of Manhattan Community College, City University of New York&#8211;writes about erasure, about how it was impossible during her youth to capture a decent likeness of herself so she started retreating from situations involving group photos being taken, knowing that &#8220;the lighter you were, the more likely it was that the camera&#8211;the film&#8211;got your likeness right.&#8221;<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:quote -->\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>They&#8217;re called Shirley cards, named after the first woman to post for them. She is wearing a white dress with long black gloves. A pearl bracelet adorns one of her wrists. She has auburn hair that drapes her exposed shoulders. Her eyes are blue. The background is grayish, and she is surrounded by thre pillows, each in one of the primary colors we&#8217;re taught in school. She wears a white dress because it reads high contrast against the gray background with her black gloves. &#8220;Colour girl&#8221; is the technicians&#8217; term for her. The image is used as a metric for skin-color balance, which technicians use to render an image as close as possible to what the human eye recognizes as normal. But there&#8217;s the rub: With a white body as a light meter, all other skin tones become deviations from the norm.&#8221;<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph --><cite>Syreeta McFadden, in &#8220;Teaching the Camera to See My Skin&#8221;<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n<!-- \/wp:quote -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Chalking it up to inadequacies of the photographer, rather than deficiencies in the performance of the film emulsion, she discusses how she adapted to film technology, like other African-Americans did: ensuring the subjects were well lit (so as not to underexpose their skin tones), buying more expensive lenses with wider apertures to let in more light, using professional-grade films that could shoot under lower light conditions at faster speeds.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In the 1990s, McFadden herself began using black and white film instead of colour, where brown skin &#8220;didn&#8217;t look so off against white skin&#8221; and she could &#8220;capture blackness without producing a distortion of it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>She references a 2013 exhibition by artists Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin, <em>To Photograph the Details of a Dark Horse in Low Light<\/em>, where they explored racism in film photography by photographing the countryside in South Africa using Polaroid&#8217;s vintage ID2 camera and 40-year-old film originally designed for white skin. This ID2 camera was used by authorities in South Africa to photograph black people for passbooks, which black citizens were required to carry with them when travelling outside of designated areas. The camera featured a flash boost of light, which enabled it to expose film for people with dark skin tones&#8211;a tool of racial segregation and enforcement of the apartheid era in South Africa. <\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In Broomberg and Chanarin&#8217;s exhibition, photographs instead depict the beautiful flora and fauna of the South African countryside &#8220;in an attempt by the artists to subvert what they say was the camera&#8217;s original, sinister intent&#8221; (David Smith, The Guardian, 2013).<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:image {\"id\":734,\"sizeSlug\":\"full\",\"linkDestination\":\"none\"} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1020\" height=\"808\" src=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/id2_Broomberg-and-Chanarin.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-734\" srcset=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/id2_Broomberg-and-Chanarin.jpg 1020w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/id2_Broomberg-and-Chanarin-300x238.jpg 300w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/id2_Broomberg-and-Chanarin-768x608.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1020px) 100vw, 1020px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><sup>I.D. 2 (2012) by Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin. Image credit: Phaidon<\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<!-- \/wp:image -->\n\n<!-- wp:image {\"id\":735,\"sizeSlug\":\"full\",\"linkDestination\":\"none\"} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1020\" height=\"806\" src=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/id17_Broomberg-and-Chanarin.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-735\" srcset=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/id17_Broomberg-and-Chanarin.jpg 1020w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/id17_Broomberg-and-Chanarin-300x237.jpg 300w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/id17_Broomberg-and-Chanarin-768x607.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1020px) 100vw, 1020px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><sup>I.D. 17 (2012) by Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin. Image credit: Phaidon<\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<!-- \/wp:image -->\n\n<!-- wp:image {\"id\":736,\"sizeSlug\":\"full\",\"linkDestination\":\"none\"} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1020\" height=\"806\" src=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/id10_Broomberg-and-Chanarin.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-736\" srcset=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/id10_Broomberg-and-Chanarin.jpg 1020w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/id10_Broomberg-and-Chanarin-300x237.jpg 300w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/id10_Broomberg-and-Chanarin-768x607.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1020px) 100vw, 1020px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><sup>I.D. 10 (2012) by Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin. Image credit: Phaidon<\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<!-- \/wp:image -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>McFadden begins using colour film again in the 2000s, using Fuji film, which she says &#8220;still struggles with a bias toward lightness in its color standard. But it does seem to be more forgiving to darker skin.&#8221;<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:quote -->\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>The absence of our likeness accurately rendered in photographs is one more piece of the construct of white supremacy. Film stocks that can&#8217;t show us accurately help to control the narrative around appearance, and shapes our reality and the value of our lives in American society. If we are invisible, we are unvalued and inhuman. Beasts. Black bodies accepted as menacing, lit in ways that cloak our features in shadows.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph --><cite>Syreeta McFadden<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n<!-- \/wp:quote -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>McFadden primarily shoots in colour now, aiming to retrieve what the camera and photography obscure.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:image {\"id\":752,\"sizeSlug\":\"full\",\"linkDestination\":\"none\"} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"990\" height=\"716\" src=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/original-27381-1396479346-3.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-752\" srcset=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/original-27381-1396479346-3.jpg 990w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/original-27381-1396479346-3-300x217.jpg 300w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/11\/original-27381-1396479346-3-768x555.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 990px) 100vw, 990px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><sup>From &#8220;Teaching My Camera To See My Skin&#8221;, BuzzFeed News, 2014. Photos by Syreeta McFadden. All Rights Reserved.<\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<!-- \/wp:image -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>References<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:list -->\n<ul><!-- wp:list-item -->\n<li>https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2019\/04\/25\/lens\/sarah-lewis-racial-bias-photography.html<\/li>\n<!-- \/wp:list-item -->\n\n<!-- wp:list-item -->\n<li>https:\/\/www.vox.com\/2015\/9\/18\/9348821\/photography-race-bias<\/li>\n<!-- \/wp:list-item -->\n\n<!-- wp:list-item -->\n<li>https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/2018\/07\/color-film-was-designed-to-take-pictures-of-white-people-not-people-of-color.html<\/li>\n<!-- \/wp:list-item -->\n\n<!-- wp:list-item -->\n<li>https:\/\/syreetamcfadden.com\/<\/li>\n<!-- \/wp:list-item -->\n\n<!-- wp:list-item -->\n<li>https:\/\/www.buzzfeednews.com\/article\/syreetamcfadden\/teaching-the-camera-to-see-my-skin<\/li>\n<!-- \/wp:list-item -->\n\n<!-- wp:list-item -->\n<li>https:\/\/www.phaidon.com\/agenda\/photography\/articles\/2013\/january\/28\/new-show-explores-racism-in-photography\/<\/li>\n<!-- \/wp:list-item -->\n\n<!-- wp:list-item -->\n<li>http:\/\/www.broombergchanarin.com\/text-racism-of-early-colour<\/li>\n<!-- \/wp:list-item --><\/ul>\n<!-- \/wp:list -->\n\n<!-- wp:separator -->\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n<!-- \/wp:separator -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading -->\n<h2>&#8220;Shit Happens &#8211; Notes on Awkwardness&#8221; by Amy Sillman<\/h2>\n<!-- \/wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>No longer making things for truth or beauty, while \u2018negative aesthetics\u2019 doesn\u2019t quite describe either what a lot of artists are doing<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Awkwardness is form that matches feeling or condition of \u201cfunny, homely, lonely, ill-fitting, strange, clumsy things that feel right.\u201d<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>\u201cPerhaps this is particular to abstract painting, where you often don\u2019t really \u2018know\u2019 what you\u2019re doing, and so you are doomed to work in between hoping and groping.\u201d &#8211; I love this! Working within the realm of trying to grab what may be *just* out of reach.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Amy Sillman says just having a body is a daily comedy\u2014our body is a \u201cloose baggy monster\u201d we find ourselves in, a &#8220;laughable casement&#8221; that farts, has ankles that swell and has rolls of fat jutting out, it excretes, and eventually our &#8220;loose baggy monster&#8221; dies.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:image {\"id\":849,\"sizeSlug\":\"large\",\"linkDestination\":\"none\"} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"711\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/12\/Pretty-in-Pink_2019-711x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-849\" srcset=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/12\/Pretty-in-Pink_2019-711x1024.jpg 711w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/12\/Pretty-in-Pink_2019-208x300.jpg 208w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/12\/Pretty-in-Pink_2019-768x1106.jpg 768w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/12\/Pretty-in-Pink_2019.jpg 972w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 711px) 100vw, 711px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><sup>&#8220;Pretty in Pink&#8221; by Michelle Bui, 2019.<\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<!-- \/wp:image -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>A series that comes to mind is Michelle Bui&#8217;s work in her exhibition <em>Mutable Materialism<\/em> at the Contemporary Art Gallery in Vancouver, BC this past summer. Michelle Bui is an artist whose photographic still lifes are described as having both painterly and sculptural approaches, are mainly comprised of everyday objects that are seemingly unremarkable. <\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:image {\"id\":851,\"sizeSlug\":\"large\",\"linkDestination\":\"none\"} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"683\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/12\/Babys-Breath_90x60inches_WhiteFrameNoGlass-683x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-851\" srcset=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/12\/Babys-Breath_90x60inches_WhiteFrameNoGlass-683x1024.jpg 683w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/12\/Babys-Breath_90x60inches_WhiteFrameNoGlass-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/12\/Babys-Breath_90x60inches_WhiteFrameNoGlass-768x1151.jpg 768w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/12\/Babys-Breath_90x60inches_WhiteFrameNoGlass.jpg 934w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 683px) 100vw, 683px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><sup>&#8220;Baby&#8217;s Breath&#8221; by Michelle Bui, 2019.<\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<!-- \/wp:image -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Her photographs are sort of beautiful and sort of ugly, but also not beautiful and not ugly. The compositions are absurd forms made up of straws, flowers, sausage casings, and upholstery foam, for example, that are placed in positions where they are precariously balanced, confrontational, looking uncomfortable and photographed at the moment when they are about to collapse or perish. <\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:image {\"id\":845,\"sizeSlug\":\"full\",\"linkDestination\":\"none\"} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"854\" src=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/12\/MichelleBui_Oyster.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-845\" srcset=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/12\/MichelleBui_Oyster.jpg 640w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/12\/MichelleBui_Oyster-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><sup>&#8220;Oyster&#8221; by Michelle Bui, 2021. <\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<!-- \/wp:image -->\n\n<!-- wp:image {\"id\":847,\"sizeSlug\":\"large\",\"linkDestination\":\"none\"} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"753\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/12\/mcbridecontemporain-michelle-bui-mikado-2022-753x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-847\" srcset=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/12\/mcbridecontemporain-michelle-bui-mikado-2022-753x1024.jpg 753w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/12\/mcbridecontemporain-michelle-bui-mikado-2022-221x300.jpg 221w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/12\/mcbridecontemporain-michelle-bui-mikado-2022-768x1044.jpg 768w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/12\/mcbridecontemporain-michelle-bui-mikado-2022.jpg 1030w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 753px) 100vw, 753px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><sup>&#8220;Mikado&#8221; by Michelle Bui, 2022.<\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<!-- \/wp:image -->\n\n<!-- wp:image {\"id\":848,\"sizeSlug\":\"large\",\"linkDestination\":\"none\"} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"722\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/12\/mcbridecontemporain-michelle-bui-le-membranes-boyaux-2021-722x1024.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-848\" srcset=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/12\/mcbridecontemporain-michelle-bui-le-membranes-boyaux-2021-722x1024.jpeg 722w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/12\/mcbridecontemporain-michelle-bui-le-membranes-boyaux-2021-212x300.jpeg 212w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/12\/mcbridecontemporain-michelle-bui-le-membranes-boyaux-2021-768x1089.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/12\/mcbridecontemporain-michelle-bui-le-membranes-boyaux-2021.jpeg 987w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 722px) 100vw, 722px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><sup>&#8220;Le Membranes (Boyaux)&#8221; by Michelle Bui, 2021.<\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<!-- \/wp:image -->\n\n<!-- wp:image {\"id\":846,\"sizeSlug\":\"large\",\"linkDestination\":\"none\"} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"774\" src=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/12\/08-michelle-bui-2022-mutable-materialism-rachel-topham-photography.-1024x774.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-846\" srcset=\"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/12\/08-michelle-bui-2022-mutable-materialism-rachel-topham-photography.-1024x774.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/12\/08-michelle-bui-2022-mutable-materialism-rachel-topham-photography.-300x227.jpg 300w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/12\/08-michelle-bui-2022-mutable-materialism-rachel-topham-photography.-768x580.jpg 768w, https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/12\/08-michelle-bui-2022-mutable-materialism-rachel-topham-photography..jpg 1400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><sup>&#8216;Mutable Materialism&#8217; by Michelle Bui, 2022, installation view, Yaletown\u2013Roundhouse Station, Vancouver, in collaboration with Capture Photography Festival and Contemporary Art Gallery. Photo credit: Rachel Topham Photography<\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<!-- \/wp:image -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Situated in the public sphere, Michelle Bui&#8217;s photographs employ the visual language of advertising and are enlarged to a scale reminiscent of billboards. Evoking the senses, they stir up awkward feelings of unsettling seduction.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mushroom Forage &#8211; Oct 5, 2022Artist&#8217;s Conk spores&#8230; making more artists! Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer Robin Wall Kimmerer is a mother, scientist, prof, and member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. Learning the Grammar of Animacy In Potawatomi 101, rocks are animate, as are mountains and water and fire and places. Beings that are [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":262,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":853,"href":"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18\/revisions\/853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/gradseminar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}