Group Exhibition seeping upwards, rupturing the surface
- Eleni Bagaki
- Maya Ben David and Tobias Williams
- Maisie Cousins
- Dayna Danger
- Erika DeFreitas
- Danièle Dennis
- Lotte Meret Effinger
- Doreen Garner
- Talia Shipman
- Molly Soda
- Ambera Wellmann
- Zhu Tian
A particularly interesting concept to emerge from the fourth-wave feminism of the digital era is that of “sad girl theory.” Coined by writer Audrey Wollen, it proposes that the visible display of sadness and other emotions by girls and women is an act of resistance, as they break down (or break through) traditional ideas of performing the female body and female autonomy. The work of the artists in seeping upwards, rupturing the surface suggests that the physical manifestations of female emotion—the tears of sadness, the frothing spittle of anger, and the slippery secretions of arousal—all represent a way of taking up space, of turning what has been used against women into an asset. These concepts find affinity with the digital image and the screen. The screen itself is inherently bodily; in the form of personal devices, it even asks to be touched. Through these portals we connect with other bodies, and with the world. The provocative, sometimes lurid works in this exhibition—large-scale prints, photo-based installation, performance video, and gifs—rupture the surface of the image and ooze out through the screen, finding and seeping through the leakiness of boundaries, demanding attention.
Curated by Kendra Ainsworth
Dayna Danger (they/them) is a Two-Spirit, Indigiqueer, Métis-Saulteaux-Polish visual artist. Danger was raised in Miiskwaagamiwiziibiing, Treaty 1 territory, or so-called Winnipeg. They are currently based in Tiohtiá:ke/Mōniyāng, or so-called Montreal. Using photography, sculpture, performance, and video, Danger creates works and environments that question the line between empowerment and objectification by claiming space. Ongoing works exploring BDSM and beaded-leather fetish masks negotiate the complex dynamics of sexuality, gender, and power in a consensual and feminist manner. Their focus remains on Indigenous and Métis visual and erotic sovereignty. In 2021, they began a doctorate at Concordia University that focuses on hide-tanning stories and bush skills, culture camps, passed on from their Saulteaux great-grandmother, Madeline McLeod (Campbell).
Erika DeFreitas’ multidisciplinary practice includes performance, photography, video, installation, textiles, drawing and writing. Placing emphasis on gesture, process, the body, documentation and paranormal phenomena, DeFreitas mines concepts of loss, post-memory, legacy and objecthood. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally including: Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery; Platform Centre for Photographic and Digital Arts, Winnipeg; Gallery TPW, Toronto; Project Row Houses and the Museum of African American Culture, Houston, among others. She is a recipient of the 2016 Toronto Friends of the Visual Arts Finalist Artist Prize, the 2016 John Hartman Award, and was longlisted for the 2017 Sobey Art Award.