Art

Insights from animate blankets: Artist Andrew Maize’s ‘fan dancers’ spin in McIntosh Gallery 

“There’s this animacy that you get from the wind. The wind fills the sails, livens a tree. I think it’s that sense of animacy we get from these blankets which otherwise are just inert material. It’s seeing that surprise on people’s faces when they first get up. It’s so exciting. There’s a sense of wonder,” says artist Andrew Maize, whose exhibit *(s)twerH is open to the public in Western University’s McIntosh Gallery until May 16.  A key feature of the windowless exhibit is a collection of gleaming silver and gold emergency blankets draped over hangers. First created in 1964 by…

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“Grounding: States of Gender”: Persian calligraphy documents memoir of womanhood in Iran 

“What are the ways in which gender — our gender as women — has actually conditioned our life?” asked Iranian artist Gita Hashemi, introducing her performance Grounding: States of Gender at Western University’s John Labatt Visual Arts Centre on January 8. Curated by Soheila Esfahani, the exhibit will be displayed at the artLAB Gallery until January 29.  Grounding features Persian calligraphy in red and black ink that tells the story of a woman in Tehran named Zahra. The swaying script is written on twenty-two scrolls that cover the gallery walls, circling audiences from all sides. Live-streamed footage of Hashemi writing…

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“Portrait of Elliot”: Painting of brain cyst stars at neuroscience conference

At Museum London on February 20th, a painting of a glowing brain is displayed on an easel. The stylized MRI brain scan, from the back-of-the-head view, is aflame in yellows and reds that form a hazy halo around a starburst of highlighter-green brain fluid. Folds of pale coral-coloured grey matter coalesce into cranial nerves bordered by a streaming blue-violet neck. In the right hemisphere drifts a ghostly cyst.  The piece is called “Portrait of Elliot”, painted by artist Natasha Beaudoin. It is based on a real MRI scan of her boyfriend, Elliot Tomlinson, who was diagnosed with an arachnoid cyst. …

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Poetry and Prose, Roots and Rhythm: Black History SLAM

As the state of the world continues to change around me, it’s been hard to decide how to respond to it. There’s an endless list of things that need attention and many systems to fight to create any sort of change. When responding to a capitalist status quo that places profits above people and the environment at large, it’s hard to feel sane in any one form of response, so I’ve been able to find solace in multiple things at once. Protesting with the community; promoting and engaging in mutual aid; and, most recently through journalism, sharing underrepresented stories and…

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Tatreez: Weaving Palestinian history

Originally published at NB Media Coop on February 11th, 2024 The Palestinian thobe fills my phone screen. It is black, originally indigo-dyed. It flares with orange, red, and jewel-coloured embroidery. The chest-piece is laden with intricate triangles, zigzags, and flower-like motifs. The front of the skirt bursts with a panel of squares bearing stars. The sleeves and sides are rich with greens, blues, and pinks that twine into branch-like patterns or descend in diamonds. The back is streaked with orange panels that border arching embroidery. In its entirety, the thobe is mesmerizing in the embroidery’s heaviness and vibrancy, handmade in…

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