KPU fine arts associates present Liminal exhibition

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Editor’s note: The print version of this story misgendered Laur Lenaghan. The Runner regrets the error. 

Kwantlen Polytechnic University fine arts instructional associates hosted an exhibit at the Surrey campus this month to showcase their work and highlight each studio within the fine arts department. A closing reception for the exhibit took place on July 19 in the Spruce Gallery.

Liminal, which refers to a stage in a process or space in between, featured the art of three technicians. Each created their work in a different manner, using their own approach to contribute to the overall theme of the exhibit.

Tomo Ingalls, who works in the ceramics studio, exhibited three clay objects which she formed using different parts of her body. Ingalls says she wanted to show the malleability and vulnerability of the clay and explore the issue of identity in her work. 

“I started to think, ‘What makes a person a person? What is identity?’ It’s a shift all the time,” Ingalls says.

“I am a mother, but here, I’m a technician. I’m also an immigrant and I’m a woman, … and then what happens if we try to get rid of all [these relationships], … what kind of identity does a person have .… That’s what I’m trying to explore.”

Ingalls wanted to demonstrate that it is not only a person’s face that reflects experiences of what they are going through but the whole body, influencing how they move and hold themselves.

“It’s not necessarily [that] I receive an answer from making the art, but that’s a way for me to interpret what I experienced in daily life, and then see what comes out from my body.”

The performance art “Eating,” projected on the wall, featured Ingalls showing how she tried to create a cake with clay using her body parts. 

Wei Chen, who specializes in photography and digital media, featured a series of black-and-white autoportraits titled “To Heal a Ghost,” depicting himself doing eye exercises, which he was taught back in elementary school in China to relieve eye strain.

“Every day, after halfway through the morning classes, the entire school was shut down, everybody would keep their eyes closed and just massage the surrounding of their eyes for 15 minutes, and after that, we opened up our eyes, and everything would become so clear,” Chen says. 

“When I think back, that was probably the earliest experience of something that is close to meditation,” he says, adding he hopes viewers can get a sense of his identity and form the idea of healing and recovery from these photos.

Mikhail Yerkovich, who works in the sculpture department, decided to also work with photography to create his piece, “The Gnomon.” The installation consists of a temporary room with a little projector inside, creating a feeling of two spaces — inside the room and outside — in the gallery.

The work uses a projector to mimic sunlight, Yerkovich says, emphasizing the connection between light and time in his imagery.

“My intention behind the work was to create this sort of duality — inside and outside. That’s what generates that liminality. There’s a space that’s maybe imposing, but then has this sort of comforting feeling on the inside. That duality leads to this weird in between,” Yerkovich says. 

At the closing reception, attendees could meet the technicians in-person and explore their work more closely, with snacks and refreshments provided.

Attendees Zoe Graham and Laur Lenaghan say they liked all the pieces and thought Yerkovich’s work was interactive, which is not seen very often.

“It’s a little mindfulness moment once you enter that box,” says Lenaghan, adding they are working in the fine arts studios during the semester and could see how some of the work’s pieces were built.

“It’s really interesting how it’s come together here through the instructional associates because they’ve also had a lot more experience in showing and making art. It’s interesting to see how each of them made their own experience of liminal,” Graham says.