As I Please

Julianna Damer

Opening Reception: Friday, October 20th, 2017 7 – 9 pm
Exhibition Run: Friday, October 20th, 2017 - Sunday, November 12th, 2017.

As I Please is a study of interaction between the human hand and chance. Using photography and sculpture, the artist documents malleable materials that have been hung, hardened, sculpted, pressed, touched and placed in unique configurations. The artist attempts to shape and impact materials with intention, however, chance and unpredictable environmental impacts create unexpected results.

Each material takes on bodily qualities as if to suggest a relationship and interaction between the body and the object. The body imprints the material and the material the body. The body is not physically present, however, it is implied. The plaster casts of a foot and a hand depict the transformation of the physical body into an object. This project demonstrates the relationship and subsequent impact the body has on its environment and vice-versa.

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Julianna Damer is a French-Canadian artist and photographer from Edmonton, Alberta currently practicing in Toronto, Ontario. She recently received her BFA in Photography Studies from Ryerson University. In 2013, she completed a BSc in Human Ecology at the University of Alberta with a major in Textiles & Clothing, which now largely informs her practice.

Photography, sculpture, video and installation allow her to study the potential of manipulation of materials and textiles and the tensions between control and acceptance of environmental influence. She often creates illusions through the play of two and three-dimensional photographic and sculptural objects in an attempt to challenge and reimagine ways of seeing and to suggest the artist’s hand in the process.