Check out the upcoming Water (Deshkan Ziibi) performances and films curated by Christof Migone, Sheri Osden Nault, and Ruth Skinner. Water (Deshkan Ziibi) is a 12 hour event from 12 noon – 12 midnight (EST) on Thursday, December 12, 2024.
Forest City Gallery is pleased to present two films as part of WATER (Deshkan Ziibi) by upcoming exhibiting artist, Racquel Rowe! The livestream screening will be on Thursday, December 12 at 8pm (20:00 EST).
WATER (Deshkan Ziibi) is the fifth in a series of twelve annual events taking place on December 12 from noon to midnight (EST). Each year the event moves through each word of the 12-word phrase ‘You And I Are Water Earth Fire Air Of Life And Death’ and activates the word of the year in myriad ways.
This year’s event will willingly wade the time away, in eddies, in sinks, in drains, in backwaters, through root systems, capillaries, infiltrating, inundating our “humid brains” (Isabelle Stengers).
Recipes for getting wet: out of the blue, blue planet, into the molecular, cellular, time’s involved, time runs through it, hydrophonics, hydrojams, glistening gestures, swimsink, cloud seeding, drought, contamination, advisories, nautical sea, nausea, leagues under, deep diver, pearl mother, Mariana Trench. We quickly see this could flow forever, for, as Yve Lomax put it in Sounding the Event: “Yes, this noisy restless sea is pure multiplicity: it is mixture, it is contingency, and it is turbulent.” Or, put more succinctly, as Italo Calvino’s Mr. Palomar realizes: “isolating a wave is not easy.”
The Anishinaabek People refer to the Thames River as Deshkan Ziibi (which means Antler River in Ojibwe / Anishnaabemowin language). The river has also been called Askunessippi (Antlered River) by the Neutrals. (Source: Upper Thames River Conservation Authority).
Presented by artLAB Gallery, in collaboration with Art Gallery of Hamilton, Doris McCarthy Gallery, Forest City Gallery, Futura Resistenza, Glenfiddich Artists-in-Residence, McIntosh Gallery, New Adventures in Sound Art, Other Sights, Thames Art Gallery, National Indigenous Media Arts Coalition, School for Advanced Studies in the Arts & Humanities, and WalkingLab
Forest City Gallery PRESENTS Racquel Rowe
WATER (DESHKAN ZIIBI) - HOUR 9
17 PST, 20 EST, 01 GMT, 21 CET, 12 AEDT
Online: YouTube Livestream
Live: artLAB Gallery, London, Ontario (free, accessible venue)
Refraction
Refraction (2024) is an underwater video by Racquel Rowe that explores the sensation of dissolving within water. As I swim slow, methodical laps, I reflect on the boundaries of my body and the lane, feeling my form gradually dissipate into fluidity. With each movement, I sink deeper into a breathless, weightless state. Moments of resurfacing interrupt this trance, reconnecting me to the surface, before I’m drawn back into the depths, caught in a cycle between dissolution and reformation.
Place (Dis) - 9
The last twenty minutes of the 9th hour features Racquel Rowe's contribution to the Place (Dis) series.
Sea Bath I and II
Sea Bath I and II (2023) presents an intimate, sacred ritual performed by Mother and I, taking early morning baths in the sea in Barbados. Through an amplified ritual of washing, we wash off our bodies with soap and salt, this act affirming water as a vital part of our everyday lives and our shared identity across generations.
Forest City Gallery (FCG) is an artist-run centre founded on artistic autonomy with a commitment to excellence in programming exhibitions and events that reflect and address recent developments in cultural production. FCG serves to foster and support contemporary art, promoting dialogue among local, regional, and international arts communities. FCG represents artists of all disciplines and career levels with a focus on emerging artists and practices.