Nuit Blanche 2021

I was honoured to be selected as one of the exhibiting artists for Nuit Blanche Regina in August 2021. My project, entitled The Migration of the False Bottom. 

The imagery for this project combines vintage postcards from the Niagara Cave system in Harmony, Minnesota with 17th century symbols created by Robert Fludd (a physician interested in science and the occult). The caves represent the sense of isolation, retreat and crushing fear I’ve experienced over the

course of the pandemic. The symbols (created by Fludd to illustrate the structure of the universe) represent a mirage, a false promise, an entity just out of reach.

The title “The Migration of the False Bottom”* describes a phenomenon first discovered in the 1940’swhen scientists were testing sonar techniques. Mysterious readings seemed to indicate the ocean floor moved up and down each day. They later learned their sonar was bouncing off creatures living in the
twilight zone, an area of the ocean so densely populated that when they rose daily to feed it read as a single unified surface, or “false bottom”.

These concepts combine to create a metaphor for what the COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare. Societal structures that once claimed to support and protect us have proven to be false securities. In some cases, these structures have been rooted in harmful ideologies, indisputably failing to meet the needs of our communities. My hope is that the 2020-21 pandemic will represent rock bottom and that enough of us have experienced an awakening to allow us to rebuild towards a more equitable future.

Photo credit: Kavan Raval