The World is Bound by Secret Knots
ODD Gallery, Klondike Institute of Art & Culture
Dawson City, Yukon, June 28 – July 31, 2018.
The World is Bound by Secret Knots is an installation that initially grew out of the artist’s direct encounters with the biodiversity of equatorial South America, and over time, expanded to become a meditation upon the complexity and fragility of tropical ecosystems at large.
The exhibition title is a reference to the 17th century polymath Althanasius Kircher’s The Magnetic Kingdom of Nature, 1693. As once expressed by the Museum of Jurassic Technology: “Ultimately, Kircher saw magnetic attraction and repulsion as the lingua franca of all creation, governing friendship, love, sympathy, hatred, chemical reactions, planetary action, heliotropic and selenitropic plants, medicinal plants and stones, the wind, hydraulics, the tides, musical harmony; even the nature of God himself, whom Kircher deemed ‘the Central Magnet of the Universe’. As Science verges on a workable unified field theory, Kircher’s intuitive philosophical understanding of the interdependency of all things seems less and less naïve.”
Part natural history and part invention, this bestiary of hybrid beings addresses the ontological blur which occurs between plant/animal/fungus, the temporal blur between living/dying/regenerating, and the shifting boundaries between Self and Other by combining species and objects in hallucinatory and oneiric ways.
The World is Bound by Secret Knots
To produce this exhibition, Emily Jan and the ODD Gallery collaborated with Collections Specialist Dylan Meyerhoffer of the Parks Canada Klondike National Historic Sites to select artifacts from two historic Dawson City buildings; these are integrated into five of the artworks in the installation.
Four of the five artifacts on display in The World is Bound By Secret Knots were recovered from the Commissioner’s Residence. The Residence was occupied by the Commissioner of the Yukon from 1901 to 1916 and again by the Sisters of St. Anne’s from 1950 to 1963. When George Black (the Commissioner) moved out of the house in 1916, the objects in the house were stored by the territorial government and passed on to Parks Canada, so a large number of site-specific artifacts are housed in the Parks Canada collection, cared for by Klondike National Historic Site.
The fifth object, the letter box (Accession Number: MA.78.8.21), came from the Bonanza Hotel, which burned down in 1977. It occupied the empty lot next to the Palace Grand Theatre. Just prior to the fire the building was acquired by Parks Canada and was emptied in order to prepare for restoration work. This piece is just one of many that furnished the hotel; Parks Canada’s collection includes much of the original furnishings.
The World is Bound by Secret Knots
Installation view.
ODD Gallery, Klondike Institute of Art & Culture
Dawson City, Yukon
July 2018.
The World is Bound by Secret Knots
Installation view.
ODD Gallery, Klondike Institute of Art & Culture
Dawson City, Yukon
July 2018.
The World is Bound by Secret Knots
Installation view.
ODD Gallery, Klondike Institute of Art & Culture
Dawson City, Yukon
July 2018.
Apologue I (The Anteater)
2016
wool, reed, hog gut, zip ties, resin, epoxy, silicone, found faux flowers, found tables, lace.
Apologue II (Birds of Paradise)
2016
dimensions: 48” x 27” x 12”
textiles, resin, found greenery & faux flowers, found objects
*exhibited with empty radio cabinet (accession # MA.79.6.94), loaned by Parks Canada
Apologue II (Birds of Paradise) – detail
2016
dimensions: 48” x 27” x 12”
textiles, resin, found greenery & faux flowers, found objects
*exhibited with empty radio cabinet (accession # MA.79.6.94), loaned by Parks Canada
Apologue III (Snail Kite)
2016-2018
wool, reed, silicone, resin, found greenery & faux flowers, found snail shells, cast snail shells, found pedestal.
*exhibited with end table with drawer (accession no. MA.78.22.1a,b), on loan from Parks Canada
Apologue III (Snail Kite) – detail
2016-2018
wool, reed, silicone, resin, found greenery & faux flowers, found snail shells, cast snail shells, found pedestal.
*exhibited with end table with drawer (accession no. MA.78.22.1a,b), on loan from Parks Canada
Apologue IV (Slow Loris)
2017
reed, faux fur, resin, gold leaf, found greenery & faux flowers, feathers, found objects, found side table.
Apologue IV (Slow Loris) – detail
2017
reed, faux fur, resin, gold leaf, found greenery & faux flowers, feathers, found objects, found side table.
Apologue V (Spider Monkey)
2017
reed, hog gut, faux fur, hair, resin, found greenery & faux flowers.
*exhibited with letter box (accession no. MA.78.8.21), on loan from Parks Canada
Apologue V (Spider Monkey) – detail
2017
reed, hog gut, faux fur, hair, resin, found greenery & faux flowers.
*exhibited with letter box (accession no. MA.78.8.21), on loan from Parks Canada
Apologue VI (Octopus)
2018
wool, reed, silicone, resin, found greenery & faux flowers, found objects.
*exhibited with table with curved legs (accession no. MA.79.6.11), on loan from Parks Canada
Apologue VI (Octopus) – detail
2018
wool, reed, silicone, resin, found greenery & faux flowers, found objects.
*exhibited with table with curved legs (accession no. MA.79.6.11), on loan from Parks Canada
Apologue VIII (Nudibranch)
2018
textiles, plaster, resin, found greenery & faux flowers, found object, found stacking tables
Apologue IX (Nudibranch) – detail
2018
textiles, plaster, resin, found greenery & faux flowers, found object, found stacking tables
Apologue IX (Honeycreeper)
2018
textiles, resin, silk, found greenery & faux flowers, driftwood branch, clamp
Apologue X (Anaconda)
2018
textiles, resin, found greenery & faux flowers, driftwood, found object
*exhibited with Singer sewing machine (accession no. MA.78.41.1), on loan from Parks Canada
Apologue X (Anaconda) – detail
2018
textiles, resin, found greenery & faux flowers, driftwood, found object
*exhibited with Singer sewing machine (accession no. MA.78.41.1), on loan from Parks Canada
the world is bound by secret knots: gallery view
The World is Bound by Secret Knots is an installation that initially grew out of the artist’s direct encounters with the biodiversity of equatorial South America, and over time, expanded to become a meditation upon the complexity and fragility of tropical ecosystems at large.
The exhibition title is a reference to the 17th century polymath Althanasius Kircher’s The Magnetic Kingdom of Nature, 1693. As once expressed by the Museum of Jurassic Technology: “Ultimately, Kircher saw magnetic attraction and repulsion as the lingua franca of all creation, governing friendship, love, sympathy, hatred, chemical reactions, planetary action, heliotropic and selenitropic plants, medicinal plants and stones, the wind, hydraulics, the tides, musical harmony; even the nature of God himself, whom Kircher deemed ‘the Central Magnet of the Universe’. As Science verges on a workable unified field theory, Kircher’s intuitive philosophical understanding of the interdependency of all things seems less and less naïve.”
Part natural history and part invention, this bestiary of hybrid beings addresses the ontological blur which occurs between plant/animal/fungus, the temporal blur between living/dying/regenerating, and the shifting boundaries between Self and Other by combining species and objects in hallucinatory and oneiric ways.