#windowwinnipeg

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WINDOW WINNIPEG PRESENTS: WORKSHOP WITH LIZ IKIRIKO

window winnipeg presents A Homemade Practice, a workshop delivered by artist/curator Liz Ikiriko.

Workshop date: Sunday, March 26 1-3pm CDT / 2-4pm EDT

Location: online, via Zoom

Accessibility information: Please contact windowwinnipeg@gmail.com with any access needs.

This workshop is free to attend. Please sign up through our link in bio \\ Please sign up at the following link:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/a-homemade-practice-tickets-586074754367

~~

Image description: An array of collages is visible. They overlap each other and fill the image. Imagery throughout the collages includes people, a ram, shells, plants, jewellry, roman numerals, and music notes. Visible words among the collages include “The Sun,” “Spellbound,” “New group rules,” “spaciousness,” and “cultivation | cur.” 

~~

“What else can you offer the earth, which has everything? What else can you give but something of yourself? A homemade ceremony, a ceremony that makes a home.” - Robin Wall Kimmerer

Hosted by Liz Ikiriko, A Homemade Practice workshop is a practice in breathing, embodied listening, citation, art making and finding ways to cultivate ceremony in the everyday.

Ikiriko will draw on sourcing natural, found materials and the physical act of making as ceremony. Reflecting on numerous artists, writers, and teachers, the workshop will focus on sharing resources for creating a foundational sense of belonging and home in any environment.

The workshop will include a short breathing exercise, meditation, and participants are asked to bring a physical project to work on throughout the online workshop. This could be knitting, collage-making, sewing, painting, etc. 

~~

About the artist:

With over fifteen years of experience in the field of contemporary art and photography, and as a Nigerian Canadian mother, maker and curator, Liz Ikiriko has delivered large-scale complex projects working closely with a variety of artists, organizations and institutions, while prioritizing narratives of the African diaspora. Through collaboration and research, she supports and creates embodied experiences to facilitate moments of belonging and care with her communities. She received her MFA in Criticism and Curatorial Practice from OCAD University and has taught photography at Toronto Metropolitan University and Sheridan College; worked on publications including Public Journal, MICE Magazine, Blackflash, Akimbo, C Magazine and most recently contributed to Aperture’s As We Rise: Photography From the Black Atlantic. She is the co-founder of the Ways of Attuning Curatorial Study Group, was a member of the curatorial committee for the 13th Rencontres de Bamako, African Photography Biennial and is the inaugural Curator, Collections and Art in Public Spaces at the Art Museum, University of Toronto. 

window is located on Treaty 1 Territory, the original lands of Anishinaabeg, Cree,

Oji-Cree, Dakota, and Dene peoples and the Homeland of the Métis Nation. window is

co-curated by Noor Bhangu, Mariana Muñoz Gomez, and Jennifer Smith.

window acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts for this programming.

[windowwinnipeg]

WINDOW 50: JAIME BLACK RESPONSE TO MERRITT JOHNSON

Activation of Merritt Johnson’s Fancy Shawl for the frontlines, 2020 by Jaime Black. The shawl is on view in window gallery until December 6.

When I first receive Fancy Shawl for the frontlines I bring it to the Manitoba Legislature grounds where Indigenous groups from across the city are holding a month long vigil and fast to protect children in the 'care' of child and family services. The lawn is covered with hundreds of hand drawn signs that read: Bring Our Children Home.

In Manitoba 90% of children in care are Indigenous.

I bring the shawl to this space thinking of the ways our culture can protect us, remind us, empower us to speak out against injustice. I bring the shawl to this space to bless it with the powerful energy of the women and community members who are working here to reconnect families, to maintain culture and community in spite of the ongoing violence of colonization.

As the shawl is unwrapped it catches the wind, there is a loud sound like thunder as it begins to dance, its dance is an old one, it moves the way grass moves before a storm and in it is the spirit of the resistance.

[windowwinnipeg]

WINDOW 56: Oluuji (November 15, 2022 – January 15, 2023) 

WINNIPEG’S ONLY 24 HOUR ARTIST-RUN CENTRE PRESENTS Oluuji

Location: Artspace Building, corner of Bannatyne @ Arthur [sidewalk level]

window is pleased to present our fifty-sixth installation:

Of One’s Own Accord

acrylic on canvas

By Oluuji, curated by Sappfyre McLeod

Of One’s Own Accord is an installation in an ongoing series of paintings revolving around anxieties concerning growth. In this diptych, the subject is sat alone in space(s) separated by the panels, space(s) neither here nor there, with no apparent end in sight, both behind and in front of the subject. The piece seeks to use vast space(s) as a natural element in reverence to the significance and magnificence of space as a fundamental component of universal existence. In the space(s), the subject sits while he stares contemplatively at his reflection in a mirror, as he puts scissors through his hair. Hair represents a significant part of identity as it shapes or reflects aspects of one’s identity, and this is particularly true for people who identify as black. The piece intends to maintain a unifying theme of ambiguity, provoking the viewer to infer a plurality of narratives concerning the scene. Does he cut his hair after or does he not? Why? Is he sitting outside in a lush green field or is he in a hallway? This aims to accentuate the apparent gravity of decisions, ones that initially seem mundane but eventually mean a lot, ones that initially seem particularly impactful but end up somewhat irrelevant, or ones that we are yet to find out just how far their reach goes. These moments of making decisions appear to progressively become more noticeable as we grow into our own selves, start to develop a firm sense of personal identity and seek to carve out our own stories in the short time we’ve been gifted to experience conscious living.

About the artist:

Aderemilekun Olusoga, also known as 'Oluuji', is a sentient variable of infinite forms experiencing nowness as a moment between both ends of infinity.

He is a self-taught Nigerian visual artist currently living in Canada, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in Neuroscience in 2022. His innate skill and affinity for philosophy, religion and science cultivate a wide array of complex thoughts he communicates most effectively through his art. Through painting and film, his work explores the ubiquitous nature of binaries, cycles and conventionality in anthropic structures. Examining the dissonance between nostalgia and growth, personal or societal, worldly or spiritual, in a surrealist bid to provoke profundity towards the outwardly mundane.

window

window is located on Treaty 1 Territory, the original lands of Anishinaabeg, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota, and Dene peoples and the Homeland of the Métis Nation. window is co-curated by Noor Bhangu, Mariana Muñoz Gomez, and Jennifer Smith.

This installation was made possible with the generous support of the Winnipeg Arts Council.

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WINDOW 37: SOMNATH BHATT

WINNIPEG’S ONLY 24 HOUR ARTIST-RUN CENTRE PRESENTS SOMNATH BHATT Location: Artspace Building, corner of Bannatyne @ Arthur [sidewalk level] window is pleased to present our thirty-seventh installation, Undo (2018), by Somnath Bhatt, on view until May 10, 2018. ~~ A one-word manifesto. A verb, 'undo' is both describing an action, state, or occurrence, and also redeeming it - a constant negotiation. ~~

About the artist: Somnath Bhatt is a designer and artist. He was born and raised in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. His interests are broad; they range from multimedia and technology, to multilingual typography and traditional crafts. He likes exploring metaphors and tapping into the dynamism of liminal, peripheral, and intersectional spaces in art and design. Seeking the new in the old, and the old in the new is his favorite form of making. Bhatt's work has been shown at ICA, London, Institute of New Connotative Action, Seattle WA, Lewisham Art House, UK, Wrong Biennale Oslo Norway, Welcome To Junior High in West Hollywood, CA, RISD Museum in Providence, RI,   the Yale Odd & Ends Book Fair, and Chinatown Soup, NYC. The Installation will be accompanied by an interview with the artist, to be published on window's Tumblr in the coming weeks.

[windowwinnipeg]

WINDOW 50: MERRITT JOHNSON (OCTOBER 12-DECEMBER 6, 2021)

WINNIPEG’S ONLY 24 HOUR ARTIST-RUN CENTRE PRESENTS MERRITT JOHNSON

Location: Artspace Building, corner of Bannatyne @ Arthur [sidewalk level]

window is pleased to present our fiftieth installation: Fancy Shawl for the frontlines, 2020 by Merritt Johnson on view until December 6, 2020. PROGRAMMING: Activation by Jaime Black: photo series and text to come Conversation between Merritt Johnson & Jaime Black: https://vimeo.com/468171644

Fancy Shawl for the frontlines is made for standing up to the elements, settler state and corporate violence, and systematic institutional and environmental racism. The shawl honors Indigenous protectors of Land and Water throughout Turtle Island. Made from an inexpensive waterproof tarp, commonly used to shelter people and belongings from weather, and to construct shelters, tents or tarpees, the material references access and necessity, resilience and persistence under oppressive or dire circumstances. The shawl is adorned with matching blue fringe and ribbon, to recognize the importance of celebrating and protecting Indigenous women as instrumental protectors of land, water, culture, and future generations. Indigenous women are on the frontlines, experiencing the violence, oppression and racism of corporate settler states, and on the frontlines organizing to stop violence against the lands and waters for present and future generations. Merritt Johnson was born in West Baltimore and spent her childhood navigating between trees, tarps and concrete. She earned her BFA from Carnegie Mellon University and her MFA from Massachusetts College of Art. For decades her work has navigated the spaces between bodies and the body politic, land and cultures. The multiplicity of materials and processes Johnson employs reflect her multiplicity. Her work is layered, insisting on allegiance and agency to land, water, culture, and bodies subjected to violence and control by anthropocentric, cis-hetero patriarchy and white supremacy.   Johnson’s works are containers for story, feeling and thought: images of what cannot be seen, exercises for existence, and containers for ideas. Her work casts light and shadow on how and who we are, and envisions possibility. Johnson’s work is in numerous private collections as well as the public collections of the Birmingham Museum of Art and the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, she lives and works with her family in Sitka Alaska.

window is located on Treaty 1 Territory, the original lands of Anishinaabeg, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota, and Dene peoples and the homeland of the Metis Nation. Window is co-curated by Noor Bhangu, Mariana Muñoz Gomez, and Sarah Nesbitt. This installation was made possible with the generous support from the Winnipeg Arts Council and the Manitoba Arts Council.

[windowwinnipeg]

WINDOW 47: MELANNIE MONOCEROS (JANUARY 9 - FEBRUARY 8, 2020)

“As an individual,  I've been using image descriptions on instagram and online for a number of years, and have been curious to find ways of providing the same access to "live" or in person image sharing. For me, it is another opportunity to invite a connection with the art and it is part of my practice of intersecting my beliefs in liberation, disability justice and interdependence with my artwork.”

-melannie monoceros

[windowwinnipeg]

WINDOW 47: MELANNIE MONOCEROS (JANUARY 9 - FEBRUARY 8, 2020)

WINNIPEG’S ONLY 24 HOUR ARTIST-RUN CENTRE PRESENTS MELANNIE MONOCEROS

Location: Artspace Building, corner of Bannatyne @ Arthur [sidewalk level]

window is pleased to present our forty-seventh installation:

a n c e s t o r a d I o

Featuring work by melannie monoceros and curated by Adele Ruhdorfer, on view until February 8, 2020.

~~

'a n c e s t o r a d i o' - is a 3 part series of short films using both analog and digital techniques, the seed of which iwas the discovery of a cassette featuring my mother and myself as a baby. It was recorded shortly before she died less than 2 years later. The first, "tuning the ocean", is an experimental animation on 16mm, navigating notions of water as a channel for cross/dimensional communication; the second "artifracture", is a narrative about trauma and place, focusing on a found kitchen object; the third, titled "remapping rosepathways" and still in development, explores weaving, process, and using the body as a tool for healing.

Overall the series is about grief and ancestorship, ghosts, and trying to listen for a sound (my mother's voice) that I didn't have a living memory of hearing until I first heard the tape.

-melannie monoceros

This installation is presented in conjunction with Gallery 1C03’s exhibition Yearning for Comfort, Not Cure, curated by Adele Ruhdorfer. Yearning for Comfort, Not Cure features work by six artists who explore their varied embodied experiences with disability, chronic illness, and madness, which are materialized and given form through the labour-intensive processes of performance, craft-based, and digital media. In addition to exploring the theme of complex embodiment, the artists deal more specifically with dis/comfort, chronicity and temporality, collage and fragmentation, familial histories, interdependence, sensory variance, and the compounding social effects that race and gender have on their bodies. Artists include Yvette Cenerini, Lux Habrich, Bram Keast, melannie monoceros, Laurence Philomène, and Jesse Turner. Yearning for Comfort, Not Cure is on view at Gallery 1C03 January 9 – February 8, 2020.

- Adele Ruhdorfer

~~

About the artist:

melannie monoceros is a poet and artist exploring polysensory production through text/ile, performance, and installation. A Black and chronically ill creator, they are currently based in Treaty 1 /Winnipeg, MB; home of the Métis First Nation and the traditional territory of the Anishinaabe, Dene, Cree, Dakota and Oji-Cree Nations. They have read and performed at Drop the Mic (Winnipeg, MB 2019), This is Not a Sentence (Paoli, IN 2018), Republic of Inclusion (Ottawa, ON 2017), and at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre (Toronto, ON 2016). monoceros is a VONA fellow (Berkeley, CA 2014) and has since been awarded grants from the Canada, Ontario, and Toronto Arts Councils. melannie has been a guest lecturer at Concordia University, Ontario College of Art and Design, Ryerson University, and Yukon College School of Visual Art.  melannie’s writing has appeared in magazines such as THIS, Make/Shift, Shameless, and The Peak as well as the When Language Runs Dry zine. Most recently, melannie ‘s work has appeared at the Dunlop Art Gallery (Regina, SK) and MAWA/Mentoring Artists for Women’s Art (Winnipeg, MB). In 2019, melannie was awarded the JRG Emerging Artist Award for their continued pursuit, integrating technology and accessibility through film installation via their series “a n c e s t o r a d i o”.

About the curator:

Adele Ruhdorfer is currently in her final year of a Bachelor of Arts Honours degree in Art History at The University of Winnipeg, where she’s focusing her research interests on applying critical feminist and disability frameworks to analyses of fine art and popular forms of visual culture. She is particularly interested in re-centring the politically-engaged embodied experiences of women, feminist, queer, and disabled artists, as they continue to be under-researched or, particularly in the case of chronic illnesses or disabilities, their positive connection to an artist’s creative process is overlooked. After graduating, she plans on pursuing a master’s degree in Cultural Studies, with the hopes of contributing to historical research, teaching, and curatorial practices.

window is located on Treaty 1 Territory, the original lands of Anishinaabeg, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota, and Dene peoples and the homeland of the Metis Nation. Window is co-curated by Noor Bhangu, Mariana Muñoz Gomez, and Sarah Nesbitt.

This installation was made possible in partnership with Gallery 1C03 for their exhibition, Yearning for Comfort, Not Cure (January 9 - February 8, 2020), and the generous support of the Winnipeg Arts council and Manitoba Arts Council.

[windowwinnipeg]

WINDOW 46: NICO WILLIAMS (NOVEMBER 18, 2019 - JANUARY 7, 2020)

WINNIPEG’S ONLY 24 HOUR ARTIST-RUN CENTRE PRESENTS NICO WILLIAMS

Location: Artspace Building, corner of Bannatyne @ Arthur [sidewalk level]

window is pleased to present our forty-sixth installation:

North of 56

Featuring Ripples by Nico Williams and curated by Lesley Beardy,

on view until January 7, 2020.

Tansi, Boozhoo, Aniin, Hello to all,

I would first like to acknowledge the land and waters in which we are situated today on Treaty One Territory, which is the traditional territory of Anishinaabeg, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota, and Dene Peoples, and the homeland of the Métis Nation. In the Neheyew language of my ancestors, Winnipeg means “muddy waters.” And so, this site and in the space of Window Winnipeg is an important opportunity to give visual sovereignty to this issue of clean drinking water in our communities.

I recently visited three communities north of the 56th parallel: Lynn Lake, Leaf Rapids, and South Indian Lake. When I reached Lynn Lake, I was appalled to find out that the water was brown and not drinkable. And in South Indian Lake, one elder shared, “All of my childhood memories are under water, due to the impacts of MB hydro flooding our territory.” Two of these three communities are under a long-term provincial water advisory. It is 2019 and today we have 42 municipalities in Manitoba that are under a water advisory. To the rest of the world Canada looks like a leader, however Indigenous people in Canada experience living in third world conditions everyday. It has been this way for many of us since the beginning of colonization. I think it is time that Canada takes a deeper look inwards and repair this important issue.

To all the people in Canada living without clean drinking water, I admire your courage to endure this problem, everyday. And to Lynn Lake, Leaf Rapids, and South Indian Lake, for sharing your knowledge and resistance. To Shoal Lake 40, who has been supplying drinking water to Winnipeg since 1919 while having none for themselves, I have no words.

To turn to the artwork of Nico Williams, who has created this piece from a similar experience to my own. Ripples sheds light on not only the issue of clean drinking water and the sociopolitical issue of climate change. The circular form of this creative piece is woven together with delica beads representing mother earth and blue beads signify the sacred waters - as human beings we all laid in the medicinal waters of our mothers’ wombs. The black beads represent the venomous toxins that we have placed on mother earth. The other beads are a mixture of other blues and green, representing the land and other bodies of water.  Finally, the orange signifies the eighth fire that burns deep within this generation of Indigenous people: we have always been stewards of the land and have respected all animate and inanimate objects on this earth. This artwork symbolizes the collective hope for all life on mother earth. With Nico Williams, we use art as a tool to bring awareness to the crisis of drinking water, which is an everyday struggle for many people in this country and a site of learning.

Kiche Miigwetch to the curatorial team; Sarah N., Mariana, and the lovely Noor! The Anishinaabe artist, Nico Williams. The sponsors Manitoba Arts Council and Winnipeg Arts Council. Thank you once again for giving space to such an important issue for all our relatives.

-Lesley Beardy

~~

About the artist:Nico Williams is Ojibwe from Aamjiwnaang First Nation. He has participated in solo and group exhibitions across Canada and internationally. He’s an active member in the urban Indigenous Montreal Arts community and is a board member for the Biennale d'Art Contemporain Autochtone (Contemporary Native Art Biennial). In 2018, he was a part of a feature article and film spot in National Geographic. In January 2019, he became a core member in the Contemporary Geometric Beadwork team at a research and creation session “Art, Architecture, and Models of Hyperbolic Energy” at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United of America. Nico Williams recently was awarded the winner of the 2019 John Fluevog Shoes Emerging Artist Grant.

About the curator:Lesley Beardy is an indigenous Ikwe/iskew. She comes from the seventh generation of leaders from the Missipawistic Cree Nation. Lesley is the liaison for the Indigenous Way of Life with Frontier School division. Her passions include education, history, and Indigenous culture. She believes that art is a form of healing and can speak to all peoples with a glimpse of real perceptions of what life is like for Indigenous people in Canada. Lesley has also been a guest curator for Glam Collectives Memory Keepers Exhibition in Nuit Blanche at Montreal in March 2019.

window is located on Treaty 1 Territory, the original lands of Anishinaabeg, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota, and Dene peoples and the homeland of the Metis Nation. Window is co-curated by Noor Bhangu, Mariana Muñoz Gomez, and Sarah Nesbitt.

This installation was made possible with the generous support from the Winnipeg Arts Council and the Manitoba Arts Council.

[windowwinnipeg]

WINDOW 45: LEE LAI (SEPTEMBER 6 - OCTOBER 31, 2019)

WINNIPEG’S ONLY 24 HOUR ARTIST-RUN CENTRE PRESENTS LEE LAI

Location: Artspace Building, corner of Bannatyne @ Arthur [sidewalk level]

window is pleased to present our forty-fifth installation, This Far, 2018, by Lee Lai, on view until October 31, 2019.

This piece is more or less an expression of love to my mum, who's pushed herself for years to try and arrive at a place of understanding of how I'm moving through the world. In this story, the child is leaving home and transitioning into a tree– something intended to nod to both humour / parody, and spirituality. It's also an attempt to emotionally connect with the pure feelings of fear and strangeness felt by a parent who, new to these concepts and language, is watching her flesh and blood embark on a journey that is so far from what she thought was real or possible.

~~

About the artist:

Lee Lai is from Naarm (Melbourne), Australia, and currently makes comics and illustrations in Tio’tia:ke (known as Montreal, Quebec). Her work is part memoir, part fiction– stories about intimacy, families and food – and has been featured in The New Yorker, The Lifted Brow, Room Magazine, and Everyday Feminism.

window is located on Treaty 1 Territory, the original lands of Anishinaabeg, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota, and Dene peoples and the homeland of the Metis Nation. Window is co-curated by Noor Bhangu, Mariana Muñoz Gomez, and Sarah Nesbitt.

This installation was made possible with the generous support from the Winnipeg Arts Council and the Manitoba Arts Council.

[windowwinnipeg]

WINDOW 43: FLORENCE YEE (MAY 5 - JUNE 30, 2019)

WINNIPEG’S ONLY 24 HOUR ARTIST-RUN CENTRE PRESENTS FLORENCE YEE

Location: Artspace Building, corner of Bannatyne @ Arthur [sidewalk level]

window is pleased to present our forty-third installation, Selected Hauntings (parts 1& 2), 2018, by Florence Yee, on view until June 30, 2019.

These two panels are part of the larger series of Selected Hauntings. Each one contains words and sentiments that have haunted me in ambiguous ways in my failure to fulfill racialized and gendered expectations as a Cantonese femme. 'Sik teung, m' gey sik gong' means 'Understands, but doesn't know how to speak,' in Cantonese. It is a phrase often heard from grandparents or parents describing their children's partial loss of language. As an introductory sentence, this one-sided engagement with culture has come to represent the haunting mutism of diasporic life.

~~

About the artist:

Florence Yee is a 2.5 generation, Cantonese-struggling visual artist based in Tkaronto/Toronto and Tiohtià:ke/Montreal. Their interest in Cantonese-Canadian history has informed an art practice examining diasporic subjectivities through the lens of gender, racialization, queerness and language. Having graduated with a BFA from Concordia University, they are now pursuing an MFA at OCAD U in Interdisciplinary Art, Media and Design as a SSHRC recipient and Delaney Scholar.

window is co-curated by Noor Bhangu, Mariana Muñoz Gomez, and Sarah Nesbitt.

This installation was made possible with the generous support from the Winnipeg Arts Council.

[windowwinnipeg]

INTERVIEW WITH MAHLET CUFF BY CHRISTINA HAJJAR

CH: Can you speak to how the project got started and why you were interested in this work?

MC: The idea came when I was walking down Sargent with my mom and I saw these two dudes approach us and they didn’t move out of the way but we moved out of the way. I was like why did I move out of the way? They came towards us; we made eye contact. I just kept thinking, why do we keep doing that? It kept happening over and over again for a couple weeks and I thought about all the times that I move out of the way for people, especially men and white people.

I thought about the other ways people take up space, like within my job and school. I decided to talk to non-binary folks, queer folks, people of colour, QTBIPOC, people with disabilities, and women about the ways that they navigate that and occupy spaces. This project is about reclaiming that space.

CH: How does the interview aspect of this project inform the work?

MC: Certain stories really stuck out to me, but I’m also interested in hearing other people’s reactions. I hope other people are able to relate to them too. It has a domino effect and creates empowerment. If you want to take up more space, do it in your own time when you feel the most comfortable.

I was talking to Megan Linton and their experience with using a cane. I wouldn’t imagine that people would be so gross about it. Sometimes I don’t even realize how taking up space is so important for other people. She just wants to walk around and get from point A to point B. She doesn’t need people to stare at her and say “ooh, cane,” or “why do you have a cane?” She had to make a whole instagram post to explain, “don’t talk to me about my cane.” People shouldn’t have to do that. I shouldn’t have to say, “don’t stare at me because I’m black.” Things that aren’t necessary have to become necessary because people can be terrible.

CH: There are so many stories you’ve collected about people’s experience with public space—what was that like and will you be doing anything further with the interviews?

MC:  Femisphere [on CKUW 95.9fm] keeps giving me the platform to do stuff like this so that I can meet people and share their stories and have companionship with different people in the city who are doing all this amazing work. I underestimated Winnipeg when I was younger. The people you meet, maybe you don’t see them all the time, but acknowledging that they’re a good person, that I understand their stories, and that we have a common ground—it’s about friendship. It’s about people. Of course it sucks not to be around my family as much, but I think, mom, I love you—but I need to do this work, because I think it’s valuable and needed.

Playing the interviews on Femisphere will be great because it’s a community radio station. I love radio because you don’t know who is listening to it. My mom and grandma listen to it and they love it, but we need the mayor to listen to it, or someone who has never thought about taking up space or learned about feminism. Anyone can listen, just like the photos in window, anyone can see them.

CH: Can you say more about how the photographs’ physical presence at window lends to the work?

MC: I think it’s super cool that people are just passing by. There’s no label or name next to it so people can have their own imagination about what it might be about. People who are involved in the photos can also walk by and be like, “ooh it’s me up there,” which definitely has power too, to take up space in downtown Winnipeg in an area that is very businessy and expensive. I can post them online and people can share them, but to have physical space, people can try to understand what those photos represent and what the stories behind them are.

CH: Can you tell us about other upcoming projects or future goals? How can people keep up with your work?

MC: I want to make a collective called “On-air, Off-air Collective” for women, queer people, non-binary folks, trans folks, and two-spirit people, to come chill together and talk about favourite radio shows and podcasts. I know people’s lives are super busy, so I think people could be as committed as they want to be. I want it to be more like a party than a meeting. My instagram handle is @mahlet.c.

[windowwinnipeg]

WINDOW 39: Mahlet Cuff (14 July to 13 August 2018)

Location: Artspace Building, corner of Bannatyne @ Arthur [sidewalk level]

In partnership with Calling Card, window is pleased to present our thirty-ninth installation,

Occupy

(2018), by Mahlet Cuff, on view until August 13, 2018.

~~

~~

Occupy gave women, queer women, non-binary, and trans folks an opportunity to talk about their experiences with taking up space. Through the interviews it gave them the ability to be open, honest, vulnerable, and uplifted through the progression of the conversations. They were able to discuss times where they  take up space in places that are not "made" for them or that have been taken up by more privileged people. I also photograph the subjects in places they are either comfortable in or I capture them being comfortable in their own bodies within these spaces they feel are not meant for them.

Being able to interview and photograph each person was so different from the other. As I kept photographing folks every couple of weeks I realized most of them have never had their photo taken professionally in a casual sense. They asked if they should pose or not and each time a person asked me I said, “Do what makes you feel comfortable and happy.” From that moment on I could feel them being less unsure about how they should look as they felt invited to take up that space however they could. As I continue to take photos of people who are usually not given a voice I hope that they are able to feel open and unapologetic about how they occupy certain spaces.

~~

About the artist:

Mahlet Cuff is an interdisciplinary artist from Treaty One territory—so called Winnipeg, Manitoba—who uses mediums such as photography, collaging, poetry, textiles, and sound to produce her work. Through her practice she hopes to create more awareness about the lack of representation of women of colour and queer people of colour in media. Her work has been shown at local galleries and events such as aceartinc. and Nuit Blanche’s Nuit Noire. In addition, her portraiture was also in the womenofcolour@soagallery exhibition, which was in response to the absence of women of colour in the permanent collection of the University of Manitoba’s School of Art. In her free time she loves reading feminist zines, watching cheesy romantic comedies and taking down the patriarchy one day at a time.

Calling Card is a nomadic curatorial collective formed by Noor Bhangu, Christina Hajjar, and Mariana Muñoz Gomez. This is the first iteration of their collaboration.

[windowwinnipeg]

WINDOW 36: SATPREET KAHLON

WINNIPEG’S ONLY 24 HOUR ARTIST-RUN CENTRE PRESENTS SATPREET KAHLON

Location: Artspace Building, corner of Bannatyne @ Arthur [sidewalk level]

window is pleased to present our thirty-sixth installation, unforgettable (2018), by Satpreet Kahlon, on view until April 10, 2018. unforgettable is a sculpture of UV-printed and laser-cut bindis and packaging exploring the possibility of subverting eurocentric calls for assimilation and traditional desi tropes of femininity.

About the artist: Satpreet Kahlon is a multidisciplinary artist who is based in Seattle, WA + Providence, RI. Born in Punjab, India and raised in the Midwest, she is interested in creating visual language and immersive encounters that express and explore intersectional experiences as well as the structural systems of inequity that dictate their boundaries. In addition to her studio practice, which has been featured in Artforum, she curates with a philosophy of embedded equity at The Alice Gallery in Seattle, is the founder of Deep Space Gallery, and, between 2015 and 2017, she designed and taught social engagement programming in partnership with the Seattle Art Museum. She is currently studying at the Rhode Island School of Design, where she received a full fellowship to pursue her MFA in Sculpture. The Installation will be accompanied by an interview with the artist, to be published on window's Tumblr in the coming weeks.

[windowwinnipeg]

INTERVIEW WITH JAKUP FERRI

NB: Your video is named after the Croatian artist, Mladen Stilinović's 1992 embroidery which reads: "An artist who cannot speak English is no artist." How did you encounter Stilinović? And in what ways did he influence your early work?

JF: Immediately after the war (the Yugoslavian War), there was a big revolt in the academy because there was only one professor talking about conceptual art – he told us about Western art and other artists such as Mladen. At the academy, more professors were teaching about the traditional arts than artists like Mladen. He became very popular with some of the students. We were excited about Western art and Mladen, who was Croatian and closer to our own culture. But at this time, it was difficult to get information on him because our access to the Internet was limited and we didn't have too many books.

And at that time, I didn’t speak English very well. There was a curator coming from Germany and to get his attention we used anything we could, including our positional experience. I made four or five videos for the curator and they were immediately successful. Eventually these videos led me to travel across Europe to be part of biennales and other international exhibitions.

NB: Have you met Mladen Stilinović?

JF: Yes, a few times. The first time I met him I asked him if he was happy that I had used him as an inspiration for my video work. He said that he was fine with that and he told me about a few other Balkan artists who were similarly inspired by his work.

NB: A number of curators have defined you as a peripheral artist, especially in regards to your early work. Can you speak a little bit about this title? And your transition from being a peripheral artist to an international artist?

JF: I never saw myself as a peripheral artist or outsider. But curators liked it. I was always trying to learn about art and be spontaneous in making my work. In my early years, I heard video art was cool so I started making videos at home, in my bedroom, before even watching video art. They were my "test videos" that I made in my bedroom/laboratory. Then I would ask people if they thought this was video art. I showed my work, “Three Virgins,” to one of the first curators I met. The video had an amateur aesthetic like my other works but I wanted to see if I could make it better so I asked the curator if I could record the video again. Of course, the curator chose the first version and I realized that people preferred amateur videos over polished aesthetics.

I began traveling a lot because of my video art. I was part of biennales and also made a lot of connections with international curators who were interested in the political aspects of my work. These opportunities and connections were really good from my position. Then after moving to Amsterdam I became interested in outsider art – like Henry Darger and Martín Ramirez – and there were not so many biennales anymore. I’ve begun working with textiles, large mosaics and drawings. Right now I'm working on hand-woven carpets and textile-based mosaics with ladies in Albania and Kosovo using different techniques such as cross-stitching.

NB: "Help Me, Save Me" like your work, "An Artist Who Cannot Speak English is No Artist," is filmed in your bedroom. Why did you make the decision to use this setting?

JF: Actually, most videos were filmed in my bedroom – not that I made this decision consciously. In my room, I was less shy in front of the camera than I would have been outside. I made so many videos in my bedroom but then I suddenly lost interest in filming, filming, filming. I still have hours of footage that could be dozens of other videos. Now I prefer working with drawing, painting, and tapestry – all these mediums came gradually to me. I make some videos in between.

[windowwinnipeg]

WINDOW 35: JAKUP FERRI

WINNIPEG’S ONLY 24 HOUR ARTIST-RUN CENTRE PRESENTS JAKUP FERRI

Location: Artspace Building, corner of Bannatyne @ Arthur [sidewalk level]

window is please to present our thirty-fifth installation, Help Me, Save Me (2003), by Jakup Ferri, on view until Feb. 28.

Watch Help Me, Save Me (2003): https://vimeo.com/250560106

password: window

Help Me, Save Me can be seen as a sort of “test video” from Ferri’s early experiments in producing video art, prepared in anticipation of a Western curator’s visit to his university in Prishtina, Kosovo. Sitting in his dishevelled bedroom, Ferri attempts to sell/promote/contextualize select works from his portfolio to gain access to the Western art world vis-à-vis the unnamed curator’s interest in his practice.

As he begins to arrange the objects to show, he imagines: “Maybe someday I’ll be chosen by some curator or by any other important person who can invite me for an exhibition or something similar, and finally some day I’ll be saved by God and who knows maybe I can earn money and become famous.” While speaking from his own desire for recognition, Ferri echoes the sentiments of his own people, my people, all people that continue to wait outside the immovable doors of the western art world. In its presentation as a film still at window, Help Me, Save Me is asked to return to this in-between space of waiting and wanting to shed new light on the politics of inclusion and visibility that continue to haunt artists occupying space outside the hegemonic center.

About the Artist:

Jakup Ferri is a multidisciplinary artist based in Prishtina and Den Haag. From his video work to his current practise in print and textile-based media, the artist employs processes of intuition and spontaneity to direct his work. Ferri has exhibited his work extensively in international exhibitions and biennials, including: Ljubljana Biennial of Graphic Art, Quartett - Vier im Spiegel GRAFISCHER Biennale Blatter, Tanas, Berlin, Art Rotterdam, Galerie de EXPEDITIE, The Center for Hisorical Reenactment, Johannesburg, South Africa, etc.

[windowwinnipeg]

WINDOW 32: KRISTIN NELSON (March - April 2017)

WINNIPEG’S ONLY 24 HOUR ARTIST-RUN CENTRE PRESENTS KRISTIN NELSON

Location: Artspace Building, corner of Bannatyne @ Arthur [sidewalk level]

window is please to present our thirty-second installation, Dear Cheryl (2017), by Kristin Nelson

Statement

The name, Cheryl Lashek, in its particular and cursive font, is familiar, and rests on the tip of our local and collective tongues. This ‘feeling of knowing’ becomes a unity of culture, or meme, borrowing its form from what is seemingly insignificant.

While the physical machinations of our world are attended to on earth, by architects and by engineers, our necks crane ever higher.

Cheryl Lashek is a professional engineer who works for the City of Winnipeg in the position of Director, Inspection and Technical Services. Her name and signature font is recognizable on valid elevator permits across Manitoba. Cheryl Lashek remains unavailable for comment.

About the Artist

Born in Ajax Ontario, Kristin Nelson received her BFA in Visual Arts at Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design (2003) and MFA at Concordia University (2014). Through a process of examination and re-contextualization, she transforms mundane subjects into larger social concerns. Kristin has completed a Canada Council International Residency in Sydney Australia (2015) and at the Banff Centre for the Arts (2008). She has exhibited work across Canada and in México. Her work is represented by Lisa Kehler Art + Projects.  www.kristinnelson.ca