Within and Without
January 27 - March 25, 2023

Featuring works by Chiedza Pasipanodya, Laneigh Ramirez, Rahel Elias, Sarah Edo and Shannon Weston
Curated by: Sarah Edo

*…And there we found a space to speak and to thrive and to live.* by Chiedza Pasipanodya, 2022-23

Guided by the sensorial nature of clay-making, Within and Without, is a meditation on the genealogy of sustenance, dream worlds and the rituals that hold us. Related to the intimacy of touch, Within and Without, brings together artists and makers to mould objects, motifs and shapes that trace geographic, spiritual and creative belonging/unbeloning. This exhibition gathers works that explore and/or trouble our relations to traditional pottery forms in Southern and Eastern Africa, mythology and folklore, social and spiritual nourishment, and rituals of rest and beauty. The works play with materiality, texture, form and color to create sculptures and imagery that invoke inquiry into the queer diasporic condition: what does it mean to be within the domain of cultural practices and traditions, but without the terrain of its intended context and use? How does shaping through touch widen our understanding of our own interiority and the ways in which we relate to cultural objects that signal sites of gathering, rest, nourishment and care? What new meanings of classical objects are made possible when animated by black queer sensibilities?

*Within and Without* also muses on the poetic process of transforming a humble lump of clay into sculptural installation. Beginning from its earthly matter, the sculptor uses water, air and time to shape and detail the clay body, while fire solidifies the work into its final form. This transformation, initiated and completed by the four universal elements, cautions the artists to heed their deep sense of intuition and intentionality, but ultimately, to practice surrender. In this release of artistic perfectionism, we find works that ask sincere questions on how objects experience relationality - how the *here and there* and the *then and now* may facilitate possibilities for black queer diasporic life in so-called Canada. *Within and Without,* simply put, is an invitation to unearth what we desire to make when our primary resources are our hands, memories and longings.
*Catalog design by Moe Pramanick*

…And there we found a space to speak and to thrive and to live. by Chiedza Pasipanodya, 2022-23

Surma Woman by Shannon Weston, 2021

The Gathering by Sarah Edo, 2023

Untitled by Rahel Elias, 2023

Artist bios:

Chiedza Pasipanodya (chee-ed-za pasi-pano-jga) is Zimbabwean-born, Toronto-based artist and curator whose research-based practice is informed by traditional southern African pottery, ontologies and social practice. Chiedza is curious about remembering and belonging and works toward presencing what has been subtly or violently disappeared. They are committed to contributing to a continuum of work that seeks to elevate narratives that might otherwise be forgotten and misremembered, especially the cultural productions of people of African descent.

Laneigh Ramirez is a Canadian-Caribbean artist based in Toronto, Ontario. Through oil painting and airbrushing, Ramirez explores the authenticity of Black expression. Inspired by her childhood far-removed from Blackness and Queerness, Ramirez celebrates protected pieces of her own identity with saturated colour, dignifying composition, and Impressionism. Her muses include herself, contemporary Black figures and her personal community. Ramirez sells prints at shopartbyneigh.ca and can be found on Instagram at @neighramirez

Rahel Elias Born in Toronto, Rahel is a multimedia artist who specializes in ceramics and documentary photography. Intrigued by meditative practices, she fell into analog photography in 2017 with interest in documenting people in a state of mundaneness, but more specifically, their physicality and states of movement. In 2020 she exhibited her first photo series, Punk Noir. A continuing need for slowness and play led Rahel to spend the last few years studying and practicing ceramics, with a focus on handbuilding. She currently teaches pottery at United Spirits Ceramics Studio.

Sarah Edo is an emerging curator born and raised in Toronto. Her work thinks through Black queer diaspora, sensibilities, desire and materiality. Her creative and cultural pursuits are guided and grounded by her experiences in community work, collective study, and intentional relation-building. She holds an M.A. in Gender Studies and is currently pursuing a PhD in Cultural Studies.

Shannon Weston is a Toronto-based ceramic artist, born and raised in Kingston, Jamaica. Weston graduated from the Craft and Design Program at Sheridan College. Weston uses throwing and hand-building techniques to create functional pottery and bold, figurative sculptures to express herself, reconnect with her African heritage, as well as uplift, adorn, and enrich people’s spaces and daily lives.