Laiwan

Laiwan
Born Harare, Zimbabwe
Nationality Canadian
Known for Artist, Writer, Educator
Website http://www.laiwanette.net/

Laiwan (1961, Harare, Zimbabwe) is a visual artist, writer, and educator based in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Life

Laiwan was born in Harare, Zimbabwe in 1961. Her family emigrated to Canada in 1977 to leave the war in Rhodesia. She graduated from Emily Carr College of Art and Design in 1983. In 1999, she received an MFA from Simon Fraser University School for Contemporary Arts, also in Vancouver, British Columbia, where she currently lives. She is an interdisciplinary artist interested in poetics and philosophy.[1][2] She was a founding member of the Or Gallery where her intent was to dispel myths about the impossibility of founding and operating a gallery, particularly for women.[3] She was Chair of the grunt gallery Board of Directors from 2010-2014.[4][5] Laiwan currently teaches in the Interdisciplinary Arts Program at Goddard College in Washington State.[6]

Artistic practice

Laiwan investigates embodiment through performativity, music and audio works, in a variety of media. Her practice unravels and engages in the idea of presence by way of bodily and emotional intelligence. Her work is held in Vancouver Art Gallery collection, Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery Collection,[7][8][9][10] and other private collections, and her time-based work is available from VIVO Media Arts Centre in Vancouver,[11][12] and V-Tape in Toronto.[13]

Early Work

In Laiwan's 1986 slide sequence work, The Mesmerization of Language: The Language of Mesmerization, she deals with language as a structure which has a life independent of its conveyed meaning.[14] There are three parts to this artwork.[15] Part One, titled "OBSESSION : POSSESSION" shows the poem Sappho 31 in both the original Greek and as an English translation. Part Two is titled "SPELL", wherein Laiwan translates the Christian prayer Our Father from sign language into words, deconstructing and breaking apart the text, phrase by phrase, word by word, and letter by letter. "Untitled", which is Part Three of the project, moves from language into images of landscapes.[16]

In the exhibition catalogue for Political Landscapes I (1989) at Tom Thomson Memorial Art Gallery, Stephen Hogbin describes Laiwan as an artist who examines the political relationship of geography and identity.[17]

Exhibitions

Select Solo Exhibitions

  • Fountain, The Wall at the CBC Plaza, commissioned by the Vancouver Heritage Foundation, 2015 [18]
  • Loose Work, Or Gallery, Vancouver, 2008 [19] and also at On Main, 2008 [20]
  • Duet: Étude For Solitudes, YYZ Artist’s Outlet / Images Festival, Toronto, 2006 [21]
  • Quartet for the year 4698 or 5760: Improvisation for four projectors, with Lori Freedman, Open Space Gallery, Victoria, 2002 [22]

Select Group Exhibitions

Bibliography

Catalogues

Reviews of Laiwan's Work

  • Queer Art Speaks to love, hate around world by Robin Laurence, The Georgia Straight, July 31-August 7, 2014 Volume 48, number 2432
  • QAF extending its reach, draws top talent by Dana Gee, the Province newspaper, July 22, 2014
  • Digital Art Reflections & 10 Seconds in Time ask audiences to stop and consider by Robin Laurence, The Georgia Straight, August 21, 2012, pg. 33

Writing

  • LUNG: Toward Embodying in DAMP, anthology on Vancouver’s media artists, Anvil Press, Vancouver, 2008 [34]
  • Ed Pien: Drawing Hauntology feature article in Canadian Art, Summer 2007, Vol. 24 #2 [35]

References

  1. ↑ "(Da bao)(Takeout): Good to Go - Canadian Art". Canadian Art. Retrieved 2017-03-18.
  2. ↑ "Unconventional Art Practices: An Evening of Artist Talks". SiteFactory. Retrieved 2017-03-18.
  3. ↑ Williams, Carol (2011). Vancouver Anthology, Stan Douglas, ed. Vancouver: Talonbooks/Or Gallery. p. 209. ISBN 978-0-88922-614-2.
  4. ↑ "grunt gallery Annual Report, 2013-2014" (PDF). grunt gallery, Vancouver. Retrieved March 18, 2017.
  5. ↑ "grunt gallery Annual Report 2011-2012" (PDF). grunt gallery, Vancouver. Retrieved March 18, 2017.
  6. ↑ "Laiwan - Goddard College". Goddard College. Retrieved 2017-03-18.
  7. ↑ "The Heartless Series: Little Women - Laiwan". belkin.pastperfectonline.com. Retrieved 2017-03-18.
  8. ↑ "she who had scanned the flower of the world - Laiwan". belkin.pastperfectonline.com. Retrieved 2017-03-18.
  9. ↑ "The Book of Fragilities - Laiwan". belkin.pastperfectonline.com. Retrieved 2017-03-18.
  10. ↑ "The Blind Heart: a book fan - Laiwan". belkin.pastperfectonline.com. Retrieved 2017-03-18.
  11. ↑ "Automatopoeia | Video Out - Vancouver, British Columbia". www.videoout.ca. Retrieved 2017-03-18.
  12. ↑ "Video Out Catalog - "Remotely In Touch" by Laiwan". www.videoout.ca. Retrieved 2017-03-18.
  13. ↑ "Video | Vtape". www.vtape.org. Retrieved 2017-03-18.
  14. ↑ Pakasaar, Helga (1986). Broken Muse. Vancouver: Vancouver Art Gallery. p. 5. ISBN 0-920095-59-3.
  15. ↑ "The Language of Mesmerization / The Mesmerization of Language". www.belkin.ubc.ca. Retrieved 2017-03-18.
  16. ↑ "The Language of Mesmerization / The Mesmerization of Language". www.belkin.ubc.ca. Retrieved 2017-03-18.
  17. ↑ Hogbin, Stephen (1989). Political Landscape Introduction. Owen Sound, Ontario: Tom Tomson Memorial Art Gallery. p. 15. ISBN 0-929021-04-5.
  18. ↑ "Vancouver Heritage Foundation Projects: The WALL". Vancouver Heritage Foundation. Retrieved March 18, 2017.
  19. ↑ "Or Gallery Exhibition: "Loose Work"". Retrieved March 18, 2017.
  20. ↑ Gallery, On Main. "News : On Main Gallery". onmaingallery.com. Retrieved 2017-03-18.
  21. ↑ "Laiwan: Duet: Etude for Solitudes". YYZ. 2006-03-11. Retrieved 2017-03-18.
  22. ↑ "Quartet for the Year 4698 or 5760: improvisation for four projectors | Open Space". openspace.ca. Retrieved 2017-03-18.
  23. ↑ "Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery | Beginning with the Seventies GLUT". belkin.ubc.ca. Retrieved 2018-03-10.
  24. ↑ "Through a Window: Visual Art and SFU 1965-2015 - SFU Galleries - Simon Fraser University". Retrieved 2017-03-18.
  25. ↑ "(Da bao)(Takeout) | Plug In ICA". plugin.org. Retrieved 2017-03-18.
  26. ↑ Surrey, City of. "(Da bao)(Takeout)". www.surrey.ca. Retrieved 2017-03-18.
  27. ↑ "(Da bao)(Takeout): Good to Go - Canadian Art". Canadian Art. Retrieved 2017-03-18.
  28. ↑ "C.1983 - Presentation House Gallery". presentationhousegallery.org. Retrieved 2017-03-18.
  29. ↑ "Vancouver Art Gallery". www.vanartgallery.bc.ca. Retrieved 2017-03-18.
  30. ↑ "HOW SOON IS NOW: Contemporary Art from Here | AHVA - The Department of Art History, Visual Art & Theory". ahva.ubc.ca. Retrieved 2017-03-18.
  31. ↑ "Vancouver Art Gallery". www.vanartgallery.bc.ca. Retrieved 2017-03-18.
  32. ↑ Liz, Park, (2007-01-01). "Limits of Tolerance : Re-framing Multicultural State Policy". e-artexte.ca. Retrieved 2017-03-18.
  33. ↑ "Laiwan: Call Numbers – The Library Recordings - other sights". othersights.ca. Retrieved 2017-03-18.
  34. ↑ Laiwan (2008). "LUNG: toward embodying". DAMP: Contemporary Vancouver Media Art. Vancouver: Anvil Press. pp. 112–113. ISBN 1895636892.
  35. ↑ "Ed Pien: Drawing Hauntology - Canadian Art". Canadian Art. Retrieved 2017-03-18.
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