Q. In your most recent solo show titled “As you were” it’s noted that like a lot of your work the intent was to meditate on the exchange between art & the commonplace. Is Parts & Labour conventional in its setup as a gallery space? If so, how did you disconnect from that context and recreate the notion of arts’ interaction with the everyday space?

 A. Parts & Labour is a fairly new venue in Toronto. It doubles as an upscale restaurant as well as a concert and event space. The opportunity to install work there came unexpectedly, I was asked to exhibit a few pieces at the front entrance of the restaurant. It was the first time I had shown work from my ‘As you were’ series and I had often wondered how those pieces would translate outside of their presentation on the internet. To my surprise, printing and framing these subtle portraits of elements and objects in my apartment fulfilled the idea of home as art in a satisfying way. Now that they had come into existence as physical, tangible objects, I felt the concept had been realized.

Nature seems to play a significant role within your praxis. Through exploring your own relationship with the interior and exterior space, have you found it easier to dismember the divide that commonly happens between our dwelling spaces and the natural environment around us?

In retrospect it was effortless. I wasn’t closely monitoring the relationship between these polarities or rather I wasn’t consciously comparing the processes at all. Over the passing of time however, I began to reflect on the conceptual narratives between the works, especially when putting together my website. What became evident was the consistent motif of natural materials. In my apartment I was shooting a lot of wood based objects, stones and house plants – remnants from the natural world. I was also very interested in exploring mimicries found in both fabricated objects along with organic and incidental formations in nature. On a deeper level, I think there is an underlining connection between interiors and exteriors based on my desire to become acquainted and grounded in both spaces that I don’t believe to be mutually exclusive.

To me, the titles you create for your work are eerily cryptic and open to interpretation. How does the process in creating them work and how do you feel the titles interact with the series they introduce?

I’m actually in the process of modifying the work presented on my website and am considering eliminating the titles of all the series, but I haven’t resolved this yet. Initially, I wanted to treat the titles on my website as works onto themselves in so much that their function was to offer an idea or a suggestion for the viewer. It was my intention to leave them open ended. Some of the titles derive from works of literature that I like, while others have brief meaning as a way of inventory. For example, ‘Age of the new spirit’ is a series of photographs taken on my birthday that document a kind of personal purification ritual. ‘Square of Monday’, are portraits of items in my apartment that appear to be familiar and ordinary, like the feeling of a weekday. I prefer not to be attached to the current titles and groupings of the work online, because what they mean to me is constantly changing. I’d like to keep them free of anything definite or static.

Be them artists or not, who have you felt inspired by as of late?

Most recently, I’ve been inspired by the Japanese notion of ‘wabi-sabi’ which embraces the acceptance of a given material’s flaws and imperfection. They say that, wabi-sabi acknowledges “three simple realities: nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect.” As well, I watched a documentary I hadn’t seen since college called, Warrendale (1967) by the late Canadian director, Allan King. It is a moving portrait of a ‘centre for emotionally disturbed children’ focusing intimately on the children’s day to day activities and therapy. In reviewing it as an adult, I am equally as touched and affected by this film. On a related note, I’ve found myself paying more close attention to photojournalism, specifically the politics and questions surrounding the practice.

If you could choose one song to accompany your work what would it be and why?

It would be difficult to choose only one song that compliments the art I make. I think the feeling or tone of the music would often have to change. But in the spirit of the question, for now, I would say a guitar bard called, ‘Atom’ by the Brazilian folk band, Satwa.

  BLACK TAIGA x Maryanne Casasanta (Toronto, Ontario)

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