Présences du littéraire dans l’espace public canadien - Out of Place

Surfacing

Marie-Claude Langevin — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 20:43:53 +0000

Artwork identification

Artwork creator(s):

Chang, Ana; Tsang, Henry; Bontogon, Eric

Artwork creator(s):

Chang, Ana

Tsang, Henry

Bontogon, Eric

Text author(s):

Chang, Ana; Tsang, Henry; Bontogon, Eric

Text author(s):

Chang, Ana

Tsang, Henry

Bontogon, Eric

Installation year:

1992

Remarks on location:

LED screens located at the following locations:

• The Flying Wedge Pizza Co. (outside), 1175, Robson Street
• Emily Carr College of Art and Design (reception), 1399 Johneston, Granville Island
• Espressohead Cafe (inside), 1945 Cornwall Street
• Proprioception Books (inside), 432 Homer Street
• The Block Shop (inside), 350 West Cordova Street
• Bulldog Café (inside), 510 Nelson Street

Artwork description

Source: VANCOUVER ASSOCIATION FOR NONCOMMERCIAL CULTURE, THE VANCOUVER, BC [file]. Montréal: Centre de documentation Artexte

Description:

A series of texts was presented on LED electronic message boards or using slide projections, community access television and local print media.

Mention(s) légale(s) des illustrations:

Remarks on image:

Image 1: details. Inside brochure. Image 2: detail. Outside brochure.

Text of the artwork:

She said, she called me Lily, again. And he
insisted that I’m precious Jade. I told them
they can call me Lily, Jade, China, what-
ever; makes no difference. They’re all the
same thing. They tell me I am so beautiful
and special, that I should feel proud to be
different. Am I supposed to be flattered? As
if he’s some kind of expert and she’s my
sister. Why do they believe that they know
me better than I know myself? What do
they want from me? My love? My loyalty?
My forgiveness?

She said, I began to say no, you have
mistaken, I am not your Asia. It’s not like
you, I’m told. When I assert myself, my
thoughts, my feelings, my story, am I
behaving unnaturally? No, I must insist
that you listen: I refuse the labels, the
masks, I refuse to identify with your image
of me. Why should your dream live on at
the expense of my self, my life? Give it up.
I will not give in. Because when I begin to
Forget who I am, where I’m from, I will also
Begin to forget that I have begun to forget.
As if change* does not occur. As if I am as I
have always been, unchanging.

West Side Story

Brand new house with large lot, facing
exclusive golf course/country club. Very
quiet, close to the river.
I was nine, in a new school in a new neigh-
borhood. We had made it, we had moved
to the West side. Here, we are poised on
the edge of the university lands, destined
to study in higher places.

Wall-to-wall carpeting, three bathroom, a
rec room, my own bed room. And a large
back yard with a fish pond my father built
in the far corner, so far away that I could
hardly see it from the house.

I didn’t know why I was called that. I didn’t
know what it meant. All I knew was that it
hurt to hear it, made me draw back, it
made me turn inward and become silent. I
suppose it was the way it was said.

The pond was stocked with gold fish, and
one summer a frog came to live there. It
was large and dark green and very loud. I
didn’t know how it got there, since our
yard was surrounded by a tall wooden
fence, but there it was. Then one day, it
was gone.

I became quiet and withdrawn. My world
shrank backwards and inside out. I felt
powerless and constantly under scrutiny.
I was vulnerable and did not know yet how to
fight back. Each day I feared being singled
out, to be made fun of, to be taunted, to
have my Chineseness become the object
of derision, for me to experience deep,
deep shame for being so special, so differ-
ent.

Black Night

Black night. A wavering sea of red and blue
light coloured my skin.

Surrounded. To serve and protect. I guess
they were just doing their job.

Bad Boys, Bad Boys, watcha gonna do?
I didn’t do anything wrong, really.

My warm flesh pressed against cold metal.
Do you have a record? No, officer, I only
have CD’s.

If Refugee, press 1, Landed Immigrant,
press 2, Asian Gang Member, press 3. You
speak English? My whole life flashed.

Want to see my records? Do I look like the
criminal type? Going to measure the size
of my skull? Stained. Weeks to get the ink
off your fingers, they say. I pay my taxes.

THE UNITED COLORS OF… what? It is my
brown skin, black hair, almond-shaped
eyes? You just happened to be at the
wrong place at the wrong time.

Text theme:

Racism experienced on a daily basis

Artwork theme:

Racism

History

History:

Three texts were presented on LED messaging screens and in slideshows throughout eight locations in the city of Vancouve; video versions were presented on Roger's cable (cable 4, Chinatown Today, September and October 1992) and printed versions were published in the double center-spread of Front magazine (November-December 1992 issue).

Event: Out of Place exhibition, organized by the Association for Noncommercial Culture, Summer 1992

Event date(s):

1992

Dimensions

Other information

Source:

1. Vancouver Association for Non Commercial Culture, centre d’artistes (1984-1998) (Fonds Vancouver Association for Non Commercial Culture fonds) en la possession de la Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery University of British Columbia Contact: Krisztina Laszlo , Archivist Address: University of British Columbia, 1825 Main Mall, Vancouver, B.C. V6T 1Z2 Phone: (604) 822-0001 Fax: (604) 822-6689 EMail: klaszlok@interchange.ubc.ca

Document(s):

Out of Place

Moving

Marie-Claude Langevin — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 15:21:59 +0000

Artwork identification

Artwork creator(s):

Leigh Butler, Margot

Artwork creator(s):

Leigh Butler, Margot

Text author(s):

Leigh Butler, Margot

Text author(s):

Leigh Butler, Margot

Installation year:

1992

Remarks on location:

Installed in brochure racks on the British Columbia Ferries, at the Vancouver Tourist Information Centre and at various other locations (post offices, community and daycare centres).

Artwork description

Source: Larson, Jacqueline; Monika Kin Gagnon (1993), Out of Place, Vancouver: Association for Noncommercial Culture

Description:

Flyers placed in various displays

Mention(s) légale(s) des illustrations:

Photo credits:

Remarks on image:

Detail. Inside the brochure.

Text of the artwork:

Eliza approached the gangplank,
the last in the queue of women, some with child
some without. Parcels and bundles were carried
from a blue ship by new immigrants from England
to Canada just after World War I. Right from the
beginning Eliza sent parcels back home. But as the
Depression reduced her prairie town, the large
parcels became smaller. She developed the skill of
concise packaging: Compressing volume, increasing the
‘necessities’, and fabricating space by innovative,
even artful doublings-up. Only after sending dozens
of these small parcels did she make the connexion:
While cinching the string, tying the same handles
that circle their shoulders, she realized that the
cardboard box was the same size and shape as the
boxes which held gas masks carried daily by her
mother, her sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends,
the same folks who were receiving her parcels.

She sent clothing and
linens and saucepans to
replace Saucepans for Victory
and she sent food to offset the
ration which lasted from 1940
to 1953. Some of these items were
easy, such as nuts and candied fruit
for Christmas cake. Others, the more
fragile, the more volatile, required some
tricky packing. She filled empty baking
powder tins with melted lard. Holding
fresh eggs gently between thumb and
fingertips, she released them into the
warm fat where they nestled against
the side of the tin, making a single
point of contact with the lonesome
shells of their neighbours. Later,
the congealed fat would conceal
and protect the passengers.
Only the most discerning
eye could detect the
slightest bulge
in the sides
of the card-
board tin.

She knew the sequence.
How long it took to prepare
and wrap. To write the linen
address label India ink and sew on
the burlap with the long and crooked
needle given her by her mother. The after-
noon journey to the post office, winding the
ring which circles her finger with rosy gold.
She wonders – will the parcel ever arrive?
The question hung inside her. The men
behind the wickets, anticipating her
monthly visits, didn’t seem to care
what was in the parcel. Instead,
they looked to see what she
had painted onto
the burlap.

Eliza’s trunk
had been wrapped in
loose sackcloth during her
long sea voyage. For the first
years she had wrapped the parcels
home with pieces of this coarse sacking
which had little blue Liner insignia stamped
across the surface. Forced to acknowledge the
inevitable end of her resources, she imagined
painting little blue ships onto the burlap
parcels, then painted bigger blue ships,
then turbulent imaginary coastlines.
She painted after the final wrapping,
using the crossing string as lines of
latitude and longitude, so that
readers turned the parcel
round several times
in order to try
and situate
themselves.

Text theme:

Caring for relatives

Artwork theme:

Realities and stereotypes of domestic and maternal labour; trivialized women’s labour; emotional realities of child rearing; questionning myths on motherhood

History

History:

Exhibition Out of Place, organized by the Association for Noncommercial Culture

July 1, 1992-June 30, 1993

Event date(s):

1993

Dimensions

Height:

0.21m

Width:

0.27m

Other information

Artist's biography:

Butler, Margot

Source:

Vancouver Association for Non Commercial Culture, centre d’artistes (1984-1998) (Fonds Vancouver Association for Non Commercial Culture fonds) en la possession de la Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery University of British Columbia Contact: Krisztina Laszlo , Archivist Address: University of British Columbia, 1825 Main Mall, Vancouver, B.C. V6T 1Z2 Phone: (604) 822-0001 Fax: (604) 822-6689 EMail: klaszlok@interchange.ubc.ca

Document(s):

Out of Place

Letters From Home

Marie-Claude Langevin — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 14:34:47 +0000

Artwork identification

Artwork creator(s):

Jones, Amy; Naylor, Margaret; Weaving, Jill P.

Artwork creator(s):

Jones, Amy

Naylor, Margaret

Weaving, Jill P.

Text author(s):

Jones, Amy; Naylor, Margaret; Weaving, Jill P.; Leach,Penelope

Text author(s):

Jones, Amy

Naylor, Margaret

Weaving, Jill P.

Leach,Penelope

Installation year:

1992

Remarks on location:

Flyers placed in the leaflet display on British Columbia Ferries, at the tourist information center in the City of Vancouver, postal outlets, community centers and various other locations.

Artwork description

Source: Leigh Butler, Margot (1992), Letters from Home, Vancouver : The Vancouver Association for Non Commercial Culture

Description:

Flyers placed in various displays

Mention(s) légale(s) des illustrations:

Text of the artwork:

[card for the letter "A"]

A a

AWORK

āhĭsto ̸ rĭc (al) adjs. Not historic(al);
Unrelated to history.

Apple

āmŏ ̸ ral a. Unconcerned with or outside
of morals; non-moral.

snAke

āsĕ ̸ xŭal a. Having no distinct sex; also,
produced without sexual agency.

Fig leAf

ā ̸ work (werk) n. Unconcerned with
gender of worker and unrelated to
designation of locale as workplace;
also produced without necessity of
monetary agency.

[ [card for the letter «B»]

B b

Birth

Bread

Not I, not I, not I
and she did.
Not I, not I, not I
and she did.
Not I, not I, not I
and she did.

Young adult men
are the most
resistant to periods
of famine…

[card for the letter «C»]

C c
Claire
A Tale of Right And Wrong.

Claire was a steam engine. She worked hard
every day pulling coaches up and down the
mountain. Her friends were all steam en-
gines too. They met every Friday for din-
ner at the station. Claire loved this time
with her friends.
When Claire was younger she taught
Andy, her little steam engine, to pull
coaches. When he was old enough he went
to work on the prairie, on the other side of
the mountain. After Andy left Claire, she
missed him very much.
One day when Andy was working, he
tooted his horn loud enough that even Claire
could hear it, so far away. Claire sent him a
smoke signal, warning him to save his en-
ergy for pulling the heavy coaches. It seemed
to her, at the time, that she was right to
warn him. After she talked about it with
her friends, however, she wasn’t so sure.
Claire decided to ask Andy if he thought
she was right or if he thought she was
wrong. He said he used to think he knew
the answer, but was sure he didn’t know
the answer now.

[ card for the letter «D»]

Dd

A puppy’s mother
Is called a dog bitch

[card for the letter «E»]

Ee

Experience
(Work Related)

Eight little children having fun,
Their parents have experience with each one.

Experience cooking for Elsa
who will not eat most things.
Experience nursing Egan
who fell down off the swings.
Experience teaching Emma
who’s just learning to walk.
Experience entertaining Elijah
who’s the only kid on his block.
Experience negotiating with Edgar
who will not wear his glasses.
Experience scheduling Elizabeth’s
French and English classes.
Experience counselling Ellen
who wets her bed at five.
Experience researching car seats
to keep Etienne safe and alive.

Eight little children having fun,
their parents have experience with each one.

[card for the letter «F»]

Ff

Foot
of the household

[card for the letter «G»]

Gg

Glove

Goods
Draw a line from each word to the picture
With the same beginning sound.
exchange
trade
barter
sell
value
worth
owner
debtor
borrow
claim

[card for the letter «H»]

Hh

ours

Cut along dotted lines
Punch holes
Attach to circle at dot

[card for the letter «I»]

Ii

you are here

[ card for the letter «J»]

Jj

Job

Dear Roberta,
My friend has
no time for me.
She’s not working
yet she is always
busy. She h
no time off
she’s on […]as
hours […]as
I’ve […]call 24
sp […]a day
[…]uld like to
[…]nd more time
with her but i
don’t understand
this situation.
Can you help?

[card for the letter «K»]

Kk

Kitchen

konstant klutter
kareworn klown
kneads kouch

[ card for the letter «L»]

Ll

Life

[ card for the letter «M»]

Mm

MOTHERHOOD
The township of Hamelin was besieged by rats
who chewed everything from the food in the vats
to the babies in their cradles and men’s Sunday hats.
Mothers pulled off their hoods and raised fists at the vermin
while Mayor and Corporation dressed in ermine
though they scratched their heads no solution could determine.

Then came the Pied Piper who bargained with Mayor and Corporation
to the massive job of Hamelin’s rat extermination.
When he started to play there gathered behind him in formation
all the rats who soon would perish of their watery destination.
But when he returned his rewards to reap
those sneaky official realized with a leap
dead rats can’t back…said his price was too steep!

So the piper raised his pipe and again began to play
but this time it was the children who followed him away.
The townsfolk raged at politicians whose faces had turned grey
The mothers raised their fists then turned and left to fray.

The mothers donned their hoods and so by mortal man unspied
followed children and piper to the mountain-side
where appeared a wondrous portal opened wide.
In marched piper, children and mothers
then a mighty crash shut out all the others.
And ne’er again did Hamelin’s folk see their children or their lovers.

The missing children never did return to that we can attest.
But as for the mothers no-one knows the rest
for as many stories, jokes and stereotypes do suggest
motherhoods long on are almost impossible to divest.

GLOSSARY
Motherhood-Mantle assumed by women most usually after birthing a child. Worn
draped loosely over the head, it seems to render the wearer invisible and inaudible
to other adults. Traditionally available in blue only.

[card for the letter «N»]

Nn

nope, slang. equivalent
to a negative sentence.
1. The answer to your
question is negative, your
request or command will
not be complied with.

Nobel Prize, one
of the annual prizes
(for physics, chemis-
try, physiology or
medicine, literature,
economic sciences,
and the promotion of
peace) awarded from
the bequest of Alfred
Nobel (d.1896),
Swedish inventor of
dynamite.

[card for the letter «O»]

Oo

One

Connect the dots.

[card for the letter «P»]

Pp

Picnic

Table

[card for the letter «Q»]

Qq

Quiet

[card for the letter «R»]

Rr

Rashes

“Children quite frequently
Produce dramatic skin rashes, with no
Other symptoms. They go away as sud-
Denly as they came. Some of these are
Probably allergic reactions; some
May be caused by viruses.”

Penelope Leach
Your Baby And Child
From Birth To Age Five

[ card for the letter «S»]

Ss

Stress

Taking care of children is demanding
work! Taking care of children is de-
manding work! Taking care of children
is demanding work! Taking care of
children is demanding work! Taking care
of children is demanding work! Tak-
ing care of children is demanding
work! Taking care of children is de-
manding work! taking care of chil-
dren is demanding work! Taking care
of children is demanding work! Taking
care of children is demanding work!
Taking care of children is demand-
ing work! Taking care of children is
demanding work! Taking care of
children is demanding work! Tak-
ing care of children is demanding
work! taking care of children is de
manding work! taking care of children
is demanding work! Taking care
of children is demanding work!
Taking care of children is demand
ing work! Taking care of children is
demanding work! Taking care of children
is demanding work! Taking care of children is
demanding work! taking care of children is
[unintelligible]
[unintelligible]
[unintelligible]
[unintelligible]

[ card for the letter «T»]

Tt

TWENTY
There are twenty teeth in
the first set, ten in the
upper jaw and ten in the
lower, comprising eight
incisors, four canines
and eight molars. They
usually come through in
a particular order and
the lower teeth tend to
break through before the
corresponding upper
teeth. The first tooth to
appear is usually a lower
central incisor, at be-
tween five and seven
months, though in some
children it erupts at three
months and in others
not until a year. Next
come the upper central
incisors (6-8 months),
the lower lateral incisors
(7-10 months), the upper lateral incisors
(8-11 months), the
canines (16-20 months),
the first molars (18-24
months) and the second
molars (20-30 months).
At the end of her first
year, the average child
has six to eight teeth.

There are thirty-two teeth
in the second set and these
lie in the jaws beneath the
gums waiting to erupt. The
first through the gums are
the six-year-old or first
molars, and these appear
between six and seven
years. They grow next to
the second molars of the
first set so no first teeth
are distributed. These are
closely followed by the
lower central incisors
which push the central
incisors of the first set out
of the jaw as they ap-
proach the gum. A child
usually loses first teeth in
the order they will be
replaced by the permanent
set. The upper central
incisors and lower lateral
incisors (7-8 years) are
followed by the upper
lateral incisors (8-9 years),
the first premolars (10-12
years), the second
premolars (10-13 years),
the upper canines (11-12
years), the second molars
(11-13 years), the lower
canines (12-13 years) and
the third molars, or
wisdom teeth, in the late
teens or twenties.

[card for the letter «U»]

Uu

UNSNA

The United Nations System of National
Accounts is a system
of economic records
advocated by the
UN for its member
countries.

Traditionally referred
to as “dancemasters”
because of their
distinctive shape,
these inside/outside
calipers-much like
the UNSNA-permit
direct transfer of an
interior measure-
ment to an exter-
ior space.

If people contributing to
the well-being of their
countries by doing
household and child-
rearing work were all
recorded in the UNSNA,
then they would also
be visible in the
distribution of benefit.

[ card for the letter «V»]

Vv

Vote

Ballot

Universal Health Care

Pensions for Homemakers

National Day-care Strategy

Foreign Domestics Program consistent with
Canada’s cultural multicultural policies

Enforcement of Employment
Standards Act for all workers

[card for the letter «W»]

Ww

WORK

Three of these Words belong together.
Which of these Words is not the same?

WORK WORK WAGE WORK
WORK WORK WORK WORE
WORE WARE WORE WORE
WAGE WARE WARE WARE
WAGE WAGE WAGE WORK

[card for the letters «X» and «Y»]

XxYy

XX₁ + XY₁ + xy₁ +xx₁ = family [1]
XX₂ + XY₂ + xy₂ + xx₂= family [2]

Problem:
XX, does the household work and
child-rearing of little xx₁, and xx₂ and
xy₁ and xy₂ from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

from Monday to Friday

For this work XX₁ is
paid $15,000 + expenses by XX₂
and $15,000 + expenses by XY₁
for a total income of $30,000 + expenses.

Why

can XY₂ deduct
$8000 from
XY₂’s taxable
income?

can’t XY₁ or XX₂
deduct $8,000
from their taxable
incomes?

is XX₁’s taxable
income before
deductions only
$15,000?

→ and why if XY₁ ceases to reside
with XX₁ and xx₁ and xy₁ does XY₁ no longer pay XX₁ $15,000
even though XX₁
continues to do the same work.

Why does XY₁ only
contribute towards
expenses for xx₁ and
xy₁? And why can XY₁
now deduct the total
paid for expenses from
XY₁’s taxable income.
And why must XX₁ add
an amount = (equal)

to XY₁’s deduction to
XX₁’s taxable income?

[ card for the letter «Z»]

Zz
Zeitgeist

Zeit/geist (tsīt), n. [G., from zeit, time and gesit, spirit.]
The spirit of the time; the moral and intellectual
trend of any age or period.

Of course it’s fun for you, being
Lion hunted. Of course you want to
Stay in the middle of it.

But it could be fun for you too
darling. Making new friends, meeting
Interesting people…

Darling, interesting people
don’t want to make friends
with housewives.

I wish you wouldn’t call yourself
a housewife, you’re so much
more than that!
So is every other
housewife.

Excerpt from the feature film “Please Don’t Eat The Daisies”
Screened at movie theatres when first released, now shown
on network television and available on home video.

©1960 Loew’s Inc. and Euterpe Inc.
©1987 Turner Entertainment Co. and Euterpe Inc.
© 1990 MGM/UA Home Video, Inc.

Text theme:

Realities and stereotypes of domestic and maternal labour; trivialized women’s labour; emotional realities of child rearing; questionning myths on motherhood

Artwork theme:

Realities and stereotypes of domestic and maternal labour; trivialized women’s labour; emotional realities of child rearing; questionning myths on motherhood

History

History:

Event: Exhibition Out of Place, organized by the Association for Noncommercial Culture July 1, 1992-June 30, 1993

Event date(s):

1993

Dimensions

Height:

0.21m

Width:

0.88m

Other information

Source:

8. Vancouver Association for Non Commercial Culture, centre d’artistes (1984-1998) (Fonds Vancouver Association for Non Commercial Culture fonds) en la possession de la Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery University of British Columbia Contact: Krisztina Laszlo , Archivist Address: University of British Columbia, 1825 Main Mall, Vancouver, B.C. V6T 1Z2 Phone: (604) 822-0001 Fax: (604) 822-6689 EMail: klaszlok@interchange.ubc.ca

Document(s):

Out of Place

Letters from Home

Dyke House

Marie-Claude Langevin — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 04:18:00 +0000

Artwork identification

Artwork creator(s):

Holman, Shaira; Jones, Lizard; Sui, River

Artwork creator(s):

Holman, Shaira

Jones, Lizard

Sui, River

Text author(s):

The Public

Text author(s):

Public

Installation year:

1992

Remarks on location:

4 locations: 1204 Georgia, East of Vancouver; 303 8th Avenue, West front, Mount Pleasant, Vancouver; 4000 Manchester Drive, New Westminster Street; 1100 Burnaby Street, West Vancouver

Artwork description

Source: Larson, Jacqueline; Monika Kin Gagnon (1993), Out of Place, Vancouver: Association for Noncommercial Culture

Description:

This installation was placed in the back of a truck and moved to 4 different locations during the summer of 1992

Mention(s) légale(s) des illustrations:

Photo credits:

Remarks on image:

Image 1. Detail. lesbian household; Image 2. Detail. Figures ("resident") in bonded wood

Text of the artwork:

[At the beginning:]

This looks like a nice neighbourhood
Yeah, I feel safe here.

[Added, 3 days:]

I don’t think people mind that we’re together.
well, we should still be careful about kissing
in the street.

[Added, 5 days:]

I met a lesbian who lives down the block
Great! This is becoming a dike neighbourhood.

Text theme:

Homophobia, homosexuality (lesbian)

Artwork theme:

Homophobia, homosexuality (lesbian), visibility, identity and safety of homosexuals in an urban residential district.

History

History:

Exhibition Out of Place, organized by the Association for Noncommercial Culture
Exhibition from July 1, 1992 to June 30, 1993. Work described as follows:

August 4 to 11, 1992: 1204 Georgia, East Vancouver

August 12 to 19, 1992, 303, 8th Avenue, Western Front, Mount Pleasant, Vancouver

August 20 to 26, 1992: 4000 Manchester Drive, New Westminster

August 27 to September 4, 1992: 1100 Burnaby Street, West End Vancouver

Event date(s):

1994

Dimensions

Other information

Artist's biography:

Jones, Lizard

Source:

Vancouver Association for Non Commercial Culture, centre d’artistes (1984-1998) (Fonds Vancouver Association for Non Commercial Culture fonds) en la possession de la Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery University of British Columbia Contact: Krisztina Laszlo , Archivist Address: University of British Columbia, 1825 Main Mall, Vancouver, B.C. V6T 1Z2 Phone: (604) 822-0001 Fax: (604) 822-6689 EMail: klaszlok@interchange.ubc.ca 2. Shaira Holman 604-408-0118 shaira@vcn.bc.ca

Document(s):

Out of Place

Close Your Eyes...

Marie-Claude Langevin — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 04:10:41 +0000

Artwork identification

Artwork creator(s):

Edelstein, Susan

Artwork creator(s):

Edelstein, Susan

Text author(s):

Edelstein, Susan

Text author(s):

Edelstein, Susan

Installation year:

1992

Remarks on location:

Installed in brochure racks on the British Columbia Ferries, at the Vancouver Tourist Information Centre and at various other locations

Artwork description

Source: Larson, Jacqueline; Monika Kin Gagnon (1993). Out of Place, Vancouver: Association for Noncommercial Culture

Description:

Flyers placed in various displays

Mention(s) légale(s) des illustrations:

Photo credits:

Remarks on image:

Detail. Second and third segments of a series of six images accompanied by texts.

Text of the artwork:

Close your eyes and count to 100...

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight,

nine, ten...

---

Ready or not here I come.

She represented a map of meanings to

both sides of her family.

Always careful to conceal or reveal the

tiny silver pendant when she would visit

them.

Making the wrong move could result in broken codes.

---

Step on a crack and break

your mother’s back.

She had been told both families

were fractured by this union.

Marrying outside of the chosen faith

was forbidden.

It broke their mothers’ hearts.

---

Step on a line and break your

mother’s spine.

She remembered walking a fine line

between their beliefs.

One slip would break the connection.

---

Step on a stone and break your

mother’s bones.

She became an expert on navigating

between the obstacles in her path.

She always remembered to wear a

smile.

---

Cross my head and hope to die.

They never spoke about the presence

of difference.

The weight of the chains

made it difficult to breathe.

Text theme:

Mixed mariage, religion, sense of community, racism

Artwork theme:

Mixed mariage, religion, sense of community, racism

History

History:

Exhibition Out of Place, organized by the Association for Noncommercial Culture

Event date(s):

1992

Dimensions

Height:

0.22m

Width:

0.71m

Other information

Artist's biography:

Edelstein, Susan

Source:

Vancouver Association for Non Commercial Culture, centre d’artistes (1984-1998)(Fonds Vancouver Association for Non Commercial Culture fonds)  en la possession de la Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery University of British Columbia <table border="0" cellpadding="0" class="MsoNormalTable"> <tbody> <tr> <td valign="top" style="padding: 0.75pt"> Contact: </td> <td style="padding: 0.75pt"> Krisztina Laszlo , Archivist </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" style="padding: 0.75pt"> Address: </td> <td style="padding: 0.75pt"> University of British Columbia, 1825 Main Mall, Vancouver, B.C. V6T 1Z2 </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" style="padding: 0.75pt"> Phone: </td> <td style="padding: 0.75pt"> (604) 822-0001 </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" style="padding: 0.75pt"> Fax: </td> <td style="padding: 0.75pt"> (604) 822-6689 </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" style="padding: 0.75pt"> EMail: </td> <td style="padding: 0.75pt"> klaszlok@interchange.ubc.ca </td> </tr> </tbody></table>

Document(s):

Out of Place

Canboulay

Marie-Claude Langevin — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 04:06:10 +0000

Artwork identification

Artwork creator(s):

Mollineaux, Melinda

Artwork creator(s):

Mollineaux, Melinda

Text author(s):

Mollineaux, Melinda

Text author(s):

Mollineaux, Melinda

Installation year:

1992

Remarks on location:

Installed in brochure racks on the British Columbia Ferries, at the Vancouver Tourist Information Centre and at various other locations

Artwork description

Source: Larson, Jacqueline; Monika Kin Gagnon (1993). Out of Place, Vancouver: Association for Noncommercial Culture

Description:

Flyers placed in various displays

Mention(s) légale(s) des illustrations:

Photo credits:

Text of the artwork:

[recto]

can·bou·lay

(kan-boo’lă) n. [Patois<Fr.cannes brulées.]

1. Orig. a celebration of freedom from slavery.

2. A traditional nighttime procession with

Costumes, drumming&music to announce the

Beginning of Carribbean Carnival Masquerade.

Var. Mardi Gras, Caribana, Caripeg, Carifest,

Cariwest.

---

At the time carnival flourished the

elite of society was masked or

disguised. The favorite costume of

the ladies was the graceful and costly

'mulatress' of the period, while

gentlemen adopted that of the garden

Negro, in Creole, negue jardin, or

black field slave. At carnival time

our mothers and grandmothers have

even danced the belair to the African

drum whose sound did not offend

their dainty ears, and our fathers and

grandfathers danced the bamboula,

the ghouba and the calinda…Sometimes

also the negue jardin united in bands would

proceed on evenings to the cannes brulees.

Their splendid march with torches through

the town streets imitated what actually took

place on the estates when a plantation was

on fire. In such cases labourers on the

neighbouring estates were conducted there

alternately, day and night, to assist in

grinding the burned canes before they went

sour, thus the cannes brulees.

---

Paris · Orleans · Santo Domingo · Port-Au-Prince

· Pointe-à-Pitre · Soufrière · Roseau · Fort-de-France

Castries · Kingstown · Bridgetown · Scarborough

Port-of-Spain · Kingston · Havana · Rio de Janiero

New Orleans · London · New York · Toronto

Winnipeg · Calgary · Edmonton · Vancouver

[verso]

Canboulay : We dance to the drum whose sound does not offend our dainty ears. Melinda Mollineaux, 1992.

OUT OF

PLACE

A project with the Vancouver Association for Non Commercial Culture.

Thanks to Harry and to Bill Boutin at Key Colour Photo Lab Ltd.

Text theme:

Etymological definition of Canboulay; encyclopaedic or anthropological account of Canboulay; tourist destinations here and abroad

Artwork theme:

Blurring of categories between exotic and domestic and between home and other; ethnocentricism, passivity and commodification of tourism, recreation and leisure.

History

History:

Exhibition Out of Place, organized by the Association for Noncommercial Culture

Event date(s):

1992

Dimensions

Height:

0.22m

Width:

0.1m

Other information

Note(s):

In the text, special characters, which are present in the work in postcard form, are omitted, namely phonetic information on the first letter "a" and on the two "o"s in "(kan-boo 'la)" (second story of the text).

Artist's biography:

Mollineaux, Melinda

Source:

1. Melinda Mollineaux est représentée par la Galerie la petite mort Gallery 306 Cumberland, Ottawa, ON, K1N 7H9 (613)860-1555 Email : guy@lapetitemortgallery.com

Document(s):

Out of Place