Portrait of Karina

by Issy Tessier

where inspiration, work, and embodiment all contribute to the work’s final intention. Tessier shared, “I collaborate with Karina through the prism of dance, drawing, and performance.”

Portrait of Karina works to fill in the gaps left by patriarchally-dominant histories that have excluded the work of women and other marginalized groups from being formally documented. Tessier is inspired by a feminist tradition of bridging the gaps of representation: As Tessier says,

“[t]he action of documenting and writing the experiences, stories, and contributions of marginalized genders from history acts in the traditions of feminist scholars… I use the term ‘retrieval’ here to mean the documentation of historical legacies, an idea defined by [the art critic] Hal Foster as ‘archival impulse’, that involves the salvaging of past histories “in a gesture of alternative knowledge or countermemory.”

Through this collaboration, Tessier generates an activation of history in which an archived subject is granted a kind of “second life,” and thus, creates an opening in which the recorded past can be navigated to reframe outmoded dynamics within the space of art and archive making.

Tiana Atherton’s work is concerned with historic and contemporary advertising, namely, the presentation of consumer goods and the dynamics involved in marketing these goods to women. In her project Recipe for Failure, Atherton examines the packaging of flour bags—consumer staples that combine the aesthetics and manipulation of marketing in addition to a sense of utility. Her sculptures are representations of these bags—made with paper pulp, shaped into recognizable forms, and coloured bright yellow to mimic popular flour products found in most grocery stores. The second skin of these flour bags is prominently featured; brown paper liners keep the flour contained.

These bags mimic the dual function of advertising: to equally conceal and reveal goods intended for sale and consumption. Women make up one of the main demographics that marketers and advertisers must consider when designing products. Atherton is curious about the history and ongoing tactics used by these industries to market products to women, and the greater implications of these tactics.

The figure of the housewife is an economically constructed archetype that has capitalized on and accentuated the imbalance of domestic labour. The figure has been polarizing in feminist discourse, both lauded and criticized. However, Atherton is not working to apply a moralizing veil over these complexities of her concerns. “I’m not trying to make a statement that the figure of the housewife or domestic tasks associated with women are good or bad. I want to look at them from multiple, conflicting points of view.” Her observations are made with a sense of levity and humour. Atherton believes that humour can provide a particular vantage point from which we can reconsider and expand our perspectives on the world we live within. Ultimately, Atherton’s works ask questions. “I’m interested in what ‘purpose’ means. It implies the potential for failure. In regard to objects, what does it mean if something cannot perform its use? And also in terms of people, what does it mean to be a woman? And what does it mean if you can’t perform as a woman?”