2 minute read
exchange
Francesca Vivenza
I found this small sketch in one of my husband’s field books labelled N ONTARIO – DIMENSION STONE/KENORA CAMP/15 – 21 SEPT 1986
It is a rough field draft drawn as base map for some geological work on a piece of land 7 x 4 km wide.
Fascinated, I asked him to confirm the location. I was stunned to find the little map is actually a piece of Zimbabwe. I interpreted it as a funny mishap, Zimbabwe in the Kenora region. At the same time, this has given me a sense of geographic, ecological disorder and instability: a connection to the North-South exploitation on our planet.
My husband has inadvertently created a space of exchanges between Kenora and Zimbabwe, two exploitable territories for their mineral resources, one on the North and the other on the South of the globe, both with a colonial history.
This new place, if disturbing, I find quite disarming. That which is not possible in geography, might be possible with art.
Francesca Vivenza is a Toronto based mixed-media artist whose works on paper, exhibited internationally, include maps. Focusing on the transformation of the old into the new, her works address themes of travel, migration and displacement. www.francescavivenza.com
