YOU CAN’T HAVE HONEY WITHOUT AN ONION

Rima Sater and Laura Acosta

January 6 - February 17, 2024

Opening Reception January 6, 7-9PM

Creative Writing Workshop January 7, 1-3PM (learn more)

Read the exhibition text, "Sweetness Through Water: A melancholic yet buoyant reclamation," by Sandi Rankaduwa, here.

Read two pieces of creative writing, "Gerry" and "Liquid," created by participants in Rima and Laura's accompanying workshop for the exhibition.

You Can’t Have Honey Without An Onion is a film piece presented as an expanded cinema experience exploring the themes of belonging and alienation of foreign bodies. In this immersive retro-futuristic sci-fi, “alien” bodies fluctuate between being highlighted and disguised from their surroundings, raising questions about the notions of visibility. This audio visual project is meant to evoke an atmosphere of simultaneous displacement and agency, a sensation experienced by minority groups; the feeling of invisibility while still holding transformational power over the spaces they occupy. Through abstract imagery, this work reflects on the intergenerational emotional trauma of normalized suffering that is passed on through women, particularly in the Latin and Arab immigrant cultures.

This piece presents digital video in combination with VHS, Super 8mm film and chroma key techniques, accompanied with an immersive soundscape within an installation of water-like lighting and surfaces. This melancholic yet playful immersive environment invites the audience to reflect on their own experiences of displacement and longing.

This exhibition was previously exhibited at the Khyber Center for the Arts in May-June 2023.

Artist Bios:

Rima Sater is a Lebanese-Canadian interdisciplinary artist based in London, ON with a focus on film photography. Her artistic practice explores the transformation of architecture and landscapes through experiments with motion and lighting, installation, 35mm photography and Super 8mm film. Through these mediums, she examines the absurdities, mundane meanings and details of quotidian scenes and subjects. Laura Acosta is a Colombian-Canadian transdisciplinary artist based in Montreal, Quebec. Her work incorporates textile pieces, improvised movement and multimedia elements to create scenes that question the relationship between body and space. She explores notions of displacement and the performativity of identity through surrealist performance, video, sound and installation work. Laura has received a BFA from NSCAD University (Halifax), and an MFA from Concordia University (Montreal) where she is currently the Head of Wardrobe in the Theatre Department.

The collaborative practice between Rima Sater and Laura Acosta revolves around the idea of re-contextualizing every-day scenes in order to create dream-like imagery that speaks to the themes belonging and representation. Together they create escapist tropical fictions that explore different ways of telling stories through image and sound. Their collaborative projects have previously been exhibited at FOFA Gallery (Montreal) and have received the support of Canada Council for the Arts.

Rima Sater - www.rsater.com ; IG: @rdreama

Laura Acosta - www.laura-acosta.com ; IG: @butterburro

Gallery Video by Travis Welowszky.

Interview with Rima Sater and Laura Acosta, by FCG Media Intern Emma Amodio and Gallery Intern Jack Cocker.