|
The basic project for the 2007 exhibitions was to create one thousand cups ("veri-tasses") in porcelain and invite the public to provide me with original sayings or quotes representing truths that were very important in their lives which I would then write on the cups. Each cup would bear a single truth with the name of the participant on the bottom. I managed to collect just over 800 of these, the vast majority of them in the form of original sayings. To this I added 38 drawings done on cups by primary school children and used the remaining number of blank cups in "Hidden Truths" to represent the infinite number of beliefs that could not possibly be included or known. I made the cups with loving care and I smile to think how beautiful they were.
In order to transform these small porcelain objects into a large work, I created a series of installations expressing different aspects of the central theme of a search for truth. This work took a simple object of use and placed it in a philosophical and social context, neatly uniting the two poles of fine craft and contemporary art, and at the same time engaging the public in the very process of the creative act. Visitors to the exhibition became participants in the search. In this way they began by searching for themselves in the distorted reflections of the mirrored work of "Truth unveils the soul" (so many of them told me they had great difficulty identifying their truths). They were then invited to consider the many ways in which we imprison ourselves with our own beliefs ("Imprisoned Truths"), examine a small work illustrating "Multiple" truths, listen to their own voices and consider how we create our own lives with "Self Talk", reach "Towards the Light", take warning in "Tricky Truths", take flight in "Cosmic Exploration", ponder the many messages of "The Devil's Advocate", visit their own memories by the reminder of "Timeless Truths", and finally, with "Hidden Truths", remember that the journey is not yet over as there are many parts of ourselves, both individually and as a society, that we don't always wish to acknowledge. "Veritas" exhibitions were held at Centre d'artistes Vaste et Vague, Carleton, QC; the Historic Site, Paspebiac, QC; Musée de la Gaspésie, Gaspé, QC. |