to notice (2023)

What forms of language can one use in an attempt to replicate the wind? Thinking about the movement of trees as an index of unseen forces, this artwork draws upon light and screens to engage with the unknown. Pause near the shores of Lake Ontario to take notice and observe.

Shoalings
Curatorial Statement

Bordered by Lake Ontario to the south, Humber River to the east and Etobicoke Creek to the west, South Etobicoke is a site where land and water are near to each other. Communities are fed through relationships of reciprocity, looking beyond ourselves – sometimes all the way into the universe. Shoaling was a multivocal exhibition that focused on connections between the land and the water, linking threads of memory, climate, race and labour. Featuring local, national and international artists, this exhibition responded to the neighborhood’s proximity to water and states of transition and growth.

As a naturally submerged landform consisting of sand or other loose materials that rises from a bed of water to near the surface, the shoal functions as a metaphor for South Etobicoke – a gathering space, linking the land with what lies beyond us. Using performance, video, sculpture and various forms of technology, artists address the complex relationships between human life and plant ecologies, reflecting on interspecies approaches to sustainability.