site specific works
RÊVERIE ACADIENNE
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2022
Site-specific installation Rêverie Acadienne (Acadian Daydream) explores Acadian identity and history using the artist's native Chiac language (a mixture of modern French, old French and English words). This video installation presented as part of Nocturne in Kjipuktuk/Halifax creates a mythology around the undocumented and lost histories of the Acadians who escaped and rebelled against deportation by living in the woods. Short video vignettes are presented through a portal, creating a fantasy world in the forest that highlights a variety of Acadian cultural signifiers. The narratives in these videos are constructed around popular Chiac idoms and words. This work was installed on the Halifax Waterfront in order to be viewed in relation to George's Island, where Acadians were historically cruelly imprisoned by the English during the great deportation. |
MOOSE CALL
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2020
Site-specific installation Using the front window display of the Craig Gallery, this installation is centred around moose in Nova Scotia. The monitor displays the documentation of a video performance where I am moving around in the forest wearing a costume, performing moose calls and antler rubs while carrying on my shoulders the weight of two large moose antlers. The video then transitions into footage of a bobble-head moose laying in a meadow with its head swaying in the breeze, appearing almost lifelike, reminiscent of trail cam footage. I became interested in moose when I found out that in NS they are an endangered species, their main threat to survival being related of course to human impact. The placement of the installation is inspired by museum dioramas. I was interested in using the gallery window space to create a sort of contained little world. I was thinking particularly about the historical relationship between museum dioramas and endangered species. Trophy hunters would label themselves as conservationists to justify harvesting rare animals from the wild in order to showcase them in elaborate museum displays, ironically sometimes killing the last of a species in the name of public education. This connected me to hunting culture, which I reference through the backdrop of the installation as well as with the moose calling technique. |
PLEASE, TRESPASS |
2018
Site-specific installation. Two large-scale light boxes are constructed in order to display photographs depicting No Trespassing signs posted in the forest. The light boxes are placed on either side to the entrance of a public pedestrian bridge, acting as foreboding authoritative monoliths and challenging pedestrian interactions with the bridge. Faced with this imagery representing the troubling and absurd human-notion of trespassing in wilderness areas, viewers are forced to contemplate socially accepted standards around land ownership. |
RED SKY AT NIGHT |
2017
Site-specific installation, Inspired by old mariner lore: "Red sky at night, sailor's delight. Red sky in morning, sailors take warning.", the 104 year old historic CSS Acadia, a former oceanographic research trip, morphs from museum exhibit into a dreamlike spectre through sound, light and video, contemplating the perils of the open ocean. |
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BLACK BOX
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2011
Site-specific installation. (collaboration with Katharine Kyle Vingoe-Cram) The ghostly relic from aviation history, a tetrahedral kite, the landmark flying machine invented by Alexander Graham Bell floats centre stage in the empty theatre, a black box. Black Box's meaning has two folds, referencing the recording device placed in modern airplanes as well as the theatre space in which it is exhibited. Behind the kite, an atmospheric video depicts the chemtrail flight path of various aircrafts across a pastel sky, filling the room with their loud engine noise. |
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CAMPSITE
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2010
Site-specific installation. This work was created based on the artist's then-recent transient experiences with hitchhiking travels where every night she had to find a place to pitch her tent to sleep, often finding forgotten corners in public spaces. A tent is pitched down a dark alley on a side street in the heart of Halifax. Glowing from the inside, its illumination suggests that it is occupied by campers. Beside the tent, a projected flashlight beam scans the ground while approaching footsteps and whispers can be heard. |
VENTURE |
2011
Site-specific installation. The artist documents her road trip all the way from Nova Scotia to Newfoundland to Labrador, living in a Chevy Venture mini-van. The van ends its journey at Full Tilt Creative Centre in McIver's, NL and is presented as part of an installation. The Chevy Venture is parked and stored into a barn, exhibiting the cumulative character that it has gained throughout its journey. Upon entering the barn, the viewer can see the van's back hatch open and glowing. Inside there is a video projection depicting the shifting landscapes and weather on the road from the driver's perspective. A bobblehead moose acts as a companion, swaying and bobbing its head at every bump and turn as the landscape races past, accompanied by music playing through the radio in the background. |
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WANDERLUST
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2010
Gallery Installation Wanderlust is an installation paying homage to the hitchhiker. A tent is pitched in the middle of the gallery, from within are broken refractions of the projected image of cars on the highway. The abrasive noise of approaching and receding vehicles racing pass recreates the experience of standing by the highway. In addition to the tent, a TV is setup on the opposing side of the gallery playing a looping video of the artist recounting hitchhiking stories. At the entrance of the gallery, a small handmade-book entitled "The Hitchhiking Dictionary" is displayed. Inspired by the idea behind hobo signs, this dictionary relays to the reader the definitions of various words, slangs and sayings relevant to the hitchhiking subculture |
LOOKING FOR SECRETS
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2009
Gallery Installation Installed in the Eyelevel Gallery is a womb to protect and carry your secrets. This crocheted womblike object floats at the centre of the gallery, with its umbilical cord snaking down to a speaker. The womb soft-sculpture is equipped with a contact microphone, amplifying the noise of your secret entering as you reach your hand into the womb to drop the secret that you have written on a piece of paper. The sound also guards the secrets as a security alarm unveiling any attempt to reach in and steal a secret. Associated with this installation is a video of the artist as she transforms into the persona of "secret keeper". |
