Language Through a Prism of Embodied Experiences 

This conversation was recorded on Friday February 5th, 2021.

In conversation:  Artists Carolina Larrosa and Leah Watts, Maya Rae Oppenheimer and Joni Cheung from CICA, FOFA exhibition coordinator, Geneviève Wallen, and FOFA Director, Eunice Bélidor.

We met on a beautiful snowy morning with artists Carolina Larrosa and Leah Watts and discussed the nature of conversation as a material practice informing artistic processes. Through our conversation language was examined as an embodied experience, which at times is lived as a digested form of colonial histories—rolling in our mouths and texturing shared realities. Individuals who express themselves in more than one tongue access portals to a multi-dimensional self that reveals different cultural psyches and histories of encounters. Moreover, conversations about academia's existence as an extension of worldwide colonial agendas erase and shape how information is circulating. As a result, this consideration is palpable in how specific groups of artists share their stories, taking agency on what to share and withhold. Where does one can hold agency in the academic context? How do self-narrative function as an archive imprint outside of class crit and gallery spaces?

Linguistic was a common thread connecting the works of Carolina Larrosa, Vân Thúy Lê, and Leah Watts and was explored in USE 2021 Artists' Profiles.

Follow the artists’ respective practice here: 

Carolina Larrosa: @clrrrrrrrrs, website

Vân Thúy Lê: @v_leafy

Leah Watts: @leahwatts_

About USE 

Each year, the annual undergraduate exhibition aims to represent the diverse art practices and research interests occurring within the Faculty of Fine Arts. Collaborative at its core, this interdisciplinary initiative culminates in an exhibition, publication, and performance event, and combines the efforts of many students, staff, and faculty members. Ultimately, the undergraduate student exhibition aims to foster community among students, while encouraging them to work together through different practices and thought processes.

 More information about USE 2021