Repose explores ties of family, vulnerability, and healing. A floating canopy of MRI brain scan drawings resembling a cloud-like jellyfish, or strange balloons, are connected by cords to my child, resting below, an embodiment of Jewish ancestry. My grandfather, an Orthodox Jewish immigrant from Galicia, studied Kabbalah and led prayers in Ontario in the 1940s. In Kabbalah, God’s attribute, Malkhus (Sovereignty, from the Hebrew root Melech, “king”) correlates to the allegorical colour blue in teachings of the Sefirot (Divine Emanations) by Rabbi Joseph Tzayach (1500 C.E.). Letters from the Hebrew alphabet are part of the shapes and motifs of Repose. Some individual brains resemble the Hebrew letter, ס (samekh), the first letter in סוף (sof), the word for end. This is a nod to the Kabbalistic concept ein sof, (there is no end) to what will always exist and has always existed. The cords spell shalom שלום, which means peace and is used in everyday language to say hello and goodbye.
Repose was created for the In Two Places exhibitions from June until August 2022. They took place at The Brighton Storeroom in Barbados and the Satellite Project Space in London, Ontario, with a catalogue by Joscelyn Gardner, Patrick Mahon and Allison Thompson. Printed at Open Studio by Pudy Tong, Repose was also exhibited along with visual art by Quentin VerCetty, and Gustavo Artigas in the Art in the Time of Healing: The Importance of IBPOC Arts in Planetary Renewal at Daniels Spectrum for CPAMO’s Gathering multimedia arts festival in December 2021.
Repose explores ties of family, vulnerability, and healing. A floating canopy of MRI brain scan drawings resembling a cloud-like jellyfish, or strange balloons, are connected by cords to my child, resting below, an embodiment of Jewish ancestry. My grandfather, an Orthodox Jewish immigrant from Galicia, studied Kabbalah and led prayers in Ontario in the 1940s. In Kabbalah, God’s attribute, Malkhus (Sovereignty, from the Hebrew root Melech, “king”) correlates to the allegorical colour blue in teachings of the Sefirot (Divine Emanations) by Rabbi Joseph Tzayach (1500 C.E.). Letters from the Hebrew alphabet are part of the shapes and motifs of Repose. Some individual brains resemble the Hebrew letter, ס (samekh), the first letter in סוף (sof), the word for end. This is a nod to the Kabbalistic concept ein sof, (there is no end) to what will always exist and has always existed. The cords spell shalom שלום, which means peace and is used in everyday language to say hello and goodbye.
Repose was created for the In Two Places exhibitions from June until August 2022. They took place at The Brighton Storeroom in Barbados and the Satellite Project Space in London, Ontario, with a catalogue by Joscelyn Gardner, Patrick Mahon and Allison Thompson. Printed at Open Studio by Pudy Tong, Repose was also exhibited along with visual art by Quentin VerCetty, and Gustavo Artigas in the Art in the Time of Healing: The Importance of IBPOC Arts in Planetary Renewal at Daniels Spectrum for CPAMO’s Gathering multimedia arts festival in December 2021.