Variations on Broken Lines (2020)
Two-channel video projection, holographic film, relief wooden panels (5 x 45 x 85"), led light, moving-image sculpture, mirror, prism, speaker
Variations on Broken Lines is a multimedia installation project that explores notions of liminality as manifested within dance archives, rituals, and identity in our current digital culture. By extending the notion of a “rite of passage,” Variations on Broken Lines illuminates the significance of everyday transitional experiences and a state of in-betweenness that exists between and across boundaries of time and space.
The transformative experience is manifested in this work through themes of movement and multiple temporalities,between linear and cyclical time, the physical and the virtual, the corporeal and the digital, and an ongoing dwelling beyond time and space. These liminal experiences of in-betweenness impact our sense of belonging, memories, and identity. The installation environment fosters multiplicities and simultaneous experiences where transitions in space-time are ritualized,and where social,cultural, and political identities are formed and reformed as poetic gestures of becoming.
The aesthetics of in-betweenness in the film and installation are manifested through the vertical frame and broken lines between screens and surfaces, as well as the photographic and cinematographic technologies. It is a ritual of becoming that embraces a non-linear temporality composed of multiple movements across space-time. The audiovisual projection comprises a collection of screendance and moving image works, reconstructed from dance archives, photographic documentation, and diasporic gestures that dwell beyond borders. Through digital choreography, it weaves gestures and forms into a continuation of movement and light.
The installation is the culmination of my MFA practice based research at York University. Link to supportive thesis paper, Variations on Broken Lines.
Thesis Committee: Professor Yvonne Singer, Professor Yam Lau, and Suzy Lake
This research-creation project is generously supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) through a Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship. The second iteration of Variations on Broken Line was exhibited at Nuit Blanche TO 2022.
The third iteration of Variations on Broken Lines was exhibited as part of Design TO 2023 at Lamashu Arspace.