Ceilidh Munroe

Aint She Something? attempts to translate the movement of dance, something that is distinctively difficult to document, into a printed object. The work is composed of sheets of translucent fabric hand-printed with abstract forms, hung layered in front of one another. The abstract forms are shapes and lines taken directly from the archival material presented in It’s About Time, resulting in a work that stems from a meditative consideration of each image in the exhibition. By using relief printing techniques, the work contrasts the elastic, unpredictable movements of dance with the slow, precise method of carving a linoleum block to produce an image. This careful mode of production, unsuited to capturing rapidly changing positions and quick movements, allows the work to engage with a history of artists considering how to effectively document something as ephemeral and dynamic as dance. The printed abstractions in Aint She Something?  are static by nature; the labour-intensive process to transfer an image from the printing block to the fabric involves many steps and careful consideration of each movement, not unlike choreographing a dance. By printing the shapes on fabric, rather than paper or a stiff substrate, and allowing that fabric to hang and flutter, the work interacts with viewers in a way reminiscent of dancers on a stage moving and responding to one another. The work needs the movement of bodies around it to be most effective, rippling in the air currents created by people in and around its space. By activating in this way, the work turns the gallery into a sort of stage, allowing viewers to become participants in performance.

Artist: Ceilidh Munroe

Ceilidh Munroe is a Jamaican-Canadian artist living and working on the unceeded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations in Vancouver. She works primarily in print media with a focus in relief and monotype printing, although this does not exclude experiments with other media. She typically engages with print media in unusual and thoughtful ways, taking the printing process away from paper and using it to explore other methods of production. Her work often engages with the architecture of its surroundings, drawing closely on the contexts in which it is presented. Her practice is partnered with a passion for fine arts education that manifests itself in developing workshops, writing, facilitating discussion, leading tours and more.