私の住んでいる場所では、自然災害はとてもレアな存在なので、皆さんの置かれている状況は、想像でしかないかも知れません。２０１１年に日本が大津波に襲われた時、他の多くの人たちと同じように自分に何をすべきなのかははっきりとはわからなかったので、とにかくできる事をしました。震災のニュースと報道の影響で、一体被災地での生活はどんなものなのだろうと思いを巡らしていました。時々こう語るのですが、私の作品は、単なるアートの枠組みを越えた損存在というものの大きな議論への参加を目標としています。遠足プロジェクトの作品を送る事の意味がどういうものなのかは、本当に小さな、小さな形でしか関わっていない私には、まだよくわかってはいません。私に考えられるのは、何かであってほしいという事だけなのです。
I live in a part of the world where life-threatening natural disasters are rare, so my grasp of what it is to live with a more present possibility of such things occurring is only precarious. When the terrible tsunami struck Japan in 2011, like many people, I was not sure how I could best help in any meaningful way, and I did what I could. As news coverage about the incident and its ramifications has waned in international news converage, I am left wondering how life goes on in the affected areas. I often say that with my art practice, I am aiming to participate in wider discussions, not just about art, but also about being, but I do not know what it means to send out this work to you as a very, very small gesture of connection on my part. All I can think to hope for is that it is…something.
Katie Bethune-Leamen is an artist and sometime art writer currently based in Toronto. She holds a BFA from Concordia University (Montreal, QC), and a MFA from the University of Guelph (Guelph, ON). She has participated in numerous group exhibitions in Canada, the USA, and Europe. Recent solo exhibitions include Shiny, Object, Person (Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto) Older, Sadder, And All In White This Time (Latcham Gallery, ON) and Dazzle Shizzle (MKG127, Toronto). She has recently participated in residencies in Fogo Island (NL), Reykjavik (IS), Toulouse (FR), and Venice (IT), with ones upcoming at the Ilulissat Art Museum (GD) and the American Museum of Natural History (NYC). Her writing has appeared in Canadian Art, C Magazine, and Border Crossings.
Official Website: Katie Bethune-Leamen
My thoughts have been with the people of Japan in this time of deep sorrow. I wish you courage and strength, recovery and renewal.
Juliana Pivato is an artist and performer living in Toronto. She completed her MFA in Sculpture at School of the Art Institute of Chicago and her BFA in Studio Arts at Concordia University in Montreal. Juliana has had solo exhibitions at Division Gallery in Montreal, at the MacLaren Art Centre in Barrie Ontario and has been featured in numerous group exhibitions in Canada, the United States and Italy. This fall she will be teaching at OCAD University in Toronto.
