Enlichenment

Abstract

The following paper is written support for the Enlichenment exhibition on display at Special Projects Gallery at York University from April 18th to April 22, 2016. Stemming from a mourning of sensorial experiences, my thesis examines my close relationship to a family owned island in Eastern Ontario and its ecology. I have a particular fascination with the lichens in this place. These organisms contain a particular essence to which I am deeply drawn. I am further intrigued by their relational sense of scale, becoming for me a metaphor for the miniaturization of human life within the vast phenomenal world. My exhibition is presented as a sensory based installation that isolates specific senses through photography, ceramics, olfaction and sound. I am interested in the possibilities by which isolating the senses can transport viewers to a particular memory of place and time, whether situated within the present, past or speculative future.