Curious Glimmers with Julia Louise Pereira & Carpos Collective
CWSE Hallway Gallery, OISE
252 Bloor Street West, 2nd Floor
Toronto.
Opening: Tues. Sept. 18,
2018, 5.30PM - 7PM and running until Jan 1, 2019.
Many of us are curious about the unknown,
wonder about all that glimmers in the firelight. Something magical preys on
those of us who have wandering minds. This is the place of folklore.
I’ve been fascinated with monsters and
magic since I was a young child, as most of us are, but I did not grow up and
away from this fairy-tale mind. If anything, I grew more deeply committed to
the “enchanted” story as a writer, an illustrator, and a translator of the
emotions and thoughts.
The satyr, once a lustful, male-dominated mythical
creature, is now a wistful spirit who is unregulated by common understandings.
She is air.
“A child of nature, pure, tame and
fearless, but with the brutal instincts necessary to enable [her] to defend
[her]self against threats.”
The selkie, usually a hapless maiden of the
sea who is coerced into being a bride, now has agency and inspires awe. “Indeed
to see a bevy of these lovely creatures, their seal skins doffed disporting
themselves on a sea-side rock was enough to fire with admiration the coldest
heart.” She is water.
The dryad, depicted mostly as an object of
sexualization in classic media, can now live freely and without the restraints
of preconceived notions. She is earth. “Long indeed do they live, eating
ambrosia and treading the lovely dance among the immortals.” She is air.
I removed the hypersexualization that
plagues these classic stories and gave them room to breathe, space to become
all of the things little girls wish they could be. Each one of these creatures,
the dryad (modeled by Shirls Shuning), the satyr (modeled by Joyce Jodie Kim)
and the selkie (modeled by me), became the embodiment of these reworked ideas
and dreams.
This series was born as a semi-collaborative
piece for my art collective Carpos Collective’s debut show. Using reference
images that we took of ourselves, these posters became modeled after my
co-founders and me. The screen-printed versions of the illustrations are a labour
of love among the three of us. We worked as a unit in my makeshift studio to
print 90+ copies of the art. Inspired by my work, and the folktales that
captured their hearts, Shirls and Joyce have created art in response which is
also presented at this exhibition.
I hope to work like this more in the
future, incorporating the magic of a good story, the curiosity of strange
legends, and glimmers of hope and love, into every piece I create.
