Artist talk: Saturday, November 18, 2pm
Artist's Statement:
In my life and work, I am preoccupied with the question of how to be in the world—how to engage with our surroundings, our experiences, and our interactions with other beings and things. And so, at the core of my practice is a focus on relationships of many kinds. Of course, all this is in the context of a complex inheritance that includes fossil-fuelled capitalism, settler colonialism, a status-obsessed culture, institutionalized oppression, and growing inequality—as well as the fact that we inhabit unique and unpredictable bodies that interact with other bodies, which will all someday change and die.
Every morning before the sun rises, I sit quietly for 20–40 minutes. Sometimes this feels boring; sometimes it feels like a radical act, a refuge, or an obligation. Regardless, I sit and try to be open and curious, and simply notice what is.
In the fall of 2013, I set myself the task of recording my daily meditation in visual form, translating the physical sensations experienced during each morning’s sit into colour, line, and shape. I instructed myself to keep this practice for one year; however, the project was halted due to injury after about ten months, resulting in approximately three hundred 4.5" x 6” drawings.
About the artist:
Aislinn Thomas is an interdisciplinary artist whose practice includes video, performance, installation, and text-based work. She culls material from everyday experiences and relationships, exploring themes of vulnerability, empathy, possibility and failure. Thomas is a graduate of the University of Waterloo MFA program and earned a BA in Studio Art from the University of Guelph. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and is the recipient of several grants and awards including a C.D. Howe Scholarship for Arts and Design, a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Masters Scholarship, and grants from the Ontario Arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts. She currently lives and works in Kitchener, Ontario.