- Strain series
This purchased oak wine barrel, was built with quarter sawn white oak from Ontario. Absorber is soaked in water for a day to seal the vessel. This enabled the wooden barrel to hold water. For the opening of the exhibition at Justina Barnicke Art Gallery, I then served water to gallery visitors from this barrel. In doing so, the visitor absorbed some of the water infused with the oak. The process of absorbing is part of the emphasis in this work, how it needs to absorb to fulfill it's function - and to hold water. Metaphorically I see this process as a similar situation socially, where in social situations and social movements people take on that which they also resist. This happens through studying and understanding, through informed critique and exchange. This also happens through one's bodily experiences through socialization, social oppression - that kind of violence leaves its residue and resistances. Through these porous materials I'm thinking about what people carry, what we resist and how our lives inform these responses.
Installation shot from the exhibition I continue to shape at the Justina Barnicke Art Gallery at the University of Toronto.