A piece of cloth held taut

Over the course of February 2020, with the support of the staff at the Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery (KWAG) I worked closely with a stream of volunteers to capture and create experimental visual descriptions for selected artworks in The Myth of Consensus, an exhibition of abstract works at KWAG. I asked each participant to assume a “first-person” voice, thus imagining each painting as a living entity with its own thoughts and experiences. By weaving together intergenerational and often tender perspectives, the work highlights the inevitable shifts in our sense of self and world across a lifetime and offers possibilities for creative approaches to access.

The above is based on the curatorial text crafted by Senior Curator Crystal Mowry and Assistant Curator Žana Kozomora.

Sincere gratitude to the community describers who generously volunteered their time, perspectives and voices for this project:

Aura Linsley, Benjamin Farenhorst, Brock Richardson, Candice Leyland, Clement Farenhorst, Ezra Thomas, Frank Leyland, Havilah Farenhorst, Jackie Bradshaw, Jesse Thomas, Josephine Costello-Weinberg, Jubal Farenhorst, Karina Farenhorst, Karoline Varin, Kathrine Vatcher, Lena Duong, Mary Anne Thomas, Natasha Farenhorst, Paula Rostrup, Senta Ross Ted Gibbons, Therisa Rogers, Yexin Tan, and Yvonne Ip.

Curated by Crystal Mowry. Project support by Žana Kozomora. Consultation by Brock Richardson and Ramya Amuthan. Audio engineering by Nathan Saliwonchyk.

PDF transcripts are available here. I regret that an ASL translation of this work is not yet available. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if I can provide another format to improve or make possible your access.