Roxanne Fernandes

telling and retelling: 
acts of iteration

The idea of iteration is indicative of process becoming practice. It is documenting, collecting, and compiling. Watching the seed root and grow. Doing the thing, again, doing it differently, and learning from it and yourself. Iteration is confrontation, contemplation, and embodiment. The artists featured in telling and retelling: acts of iteration work iteratively, and within the self-imposed constraints of their respective practices, whether material, aesthetics, or participation. There is tension in the affect, but satisfaction and consistency in the execution.

Second-year IAMD MFA artists Camille Belair and Sal Lovink McKinnell—working in multimedia illustration and textiles, respectively—notably utilize the system of a grid and its ability to allow for concise framing, pattern, and balance. However, the grid also becomes the impetus for considering what can be done beyond its fixed structure. Both artists present pockets of work, made iteratively and in segments, that speak to the evolution of their larger practices. Their process is seen, literally, through a revisiting and exploration of ideas, materials, and techniques.
Ivan Obande, a second-year Creative Writing student, has been asked how they can consider these structures through their own writing practice. Included is a special commission by Obande, who was given the thematic, aesthetic, and physical constraints of iteration, repetition, and the grid, and asked to work with, within, or outside of them. How can we bend the constraints or even break them? This exhibition encourages slow, playful, and deep looking within and outside of the grid to see the patterns of iteration and the methods employed by each artist toward visual synergy and discovery.

Camille Kiku Belair (b.1997) is a gosei (fifth-generation) Japanese Canadian with French Canadian ancestry. They are a composer, classical guitarist and interdisciplinary artist interested in working with field recordings and experimenting with mixed media. They previously completed a BMus specialising in composition at the University of Toronto's Faculty of Music, and studied at California Institute of the Arts in both the Performer-Composer and Experimental Sound Practices MFA programs. Currently pursuing an MFA in the Interdisciplinary Art, Media and Design program at OCAD University, their work involves developing hand-made book-objects that function as compositional tools, including the exploration of different forms of music notation.

Ihotukowoicho Obande, commonly referred to as Ivan, is a Nigerian International student majoring in Creative Writing at OCAD University. Ivan is a writer who specializes in prose and poetry as well as songwriting. Their work focuses on dark, enthralling elements and the inuence of their home and past experiences create a large impact on this. Their interests lie in history, gothic literature, perfecting their cooking and baking skills and styling neutral colours together. Ivan is looking forward to how the rest of the Creative Writing program will enrich their life moving forward and more opportunities to showcase their works.

Sal Lovink McKinnell (They/She) is a white queer settler artist currently practicing in Tkaronto (Toronto). Sal’s work is textile-based and strongly relies on research of material, colour, and emotion and engages with a sense of play. Their practice is focused on creating work that explores the sensorial experience of touch. They are compelled by lines and fluff and textures run amuck, by repetition, repetition, repetition on repeat. Sal has worked as an arts facilitator and teacher, researcher, coordinator, and textile consultant. They’re looking forward to the smell of fall, the feeling of walking on frost-covered grass, and a soft touch.