Message to Japan

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.

Artist information

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

Message to Japan

Artist information

Artist Profile

Message to Japan

Carry the distance

Artist information

With theatrical absurdity, Geoffrey Pugen explores relationships between real and staged performance, the natural and the artificial, and tensions of virtual identity, through altering and manipulating images. Working with video, film, and photography in the digital realm Pugen renders situations that examine our perceptions of how history, documentation, and simulation intersect. His videos and art have been exhibited nationally and internationally. He is a recipient of the K.M Hunter Award for Interdisciplinary art.