HELD

HELD
A co-solo exhibit by Anna Camilleri and Wy Joung Kou
Presented by Tangled Art + Disability in partnership with ReDefine Arts

HELD is a multi-sensory exhibition by Anna Camilleri and Wy Joung Kou, composed of multiple works within a shared ecosystem including: ceramic and glass mosaic, installation, pebble mosaic sculpture, video, audio, and interaction. Reimagining the gallery as a co-created and invitational space, HELD asks: What futures await our queer, disabled bodies? What sustainable futures can we co-create together?

The works which constitute HELD began with two completed series that served as a foundation for the conceptual development and creation of the rest of the exhibit:

Carry Hold Release (Camilleri) is a collection of 400+ handmade sculptures hinging on spaces and containments; something born of water; possibility. This work is intended to carry intention; to receive what is let go of, to hold what is generative, to release what is not.

What We Have Always Dreamed Of (Kou) is an 18-piece ceramic and glass mosaic series that calls us to reflect on what interdependence requires of us, and what it can offer in return. It invites a re-imagination of notions of care, with access-intimacy and radical reciprocity at the centre so that we may move towards the networks of collective care that we have always dreamed of.

What emerged from these two works is an expansive collection of patterns and multiples, echoed through diverse forms that manifest a sense of abundance; an aesthetic call and response.

Held is a 20-piece pebble mosaic series designed and co-created by the artists. A substantial part of Camilleri and Kou’s artistic histories is expressed through pebble mosaic public artworks: monuments built to commemorate, make meaning, and embody commitments to co-creating futures that hold worlds of possibility for us individually and collectively. The pebble mosaic elements in Held, in concert with all the exhibition elements, prompt the following call: What visions for disability futures do you hold close or carry forward?

As part of this exhibition, the artists crafted a collective poem, combining their own contributions with reflections from community members collected over the course of the exhibit, responding to the prompt “What visions for disability futures do you hold close or carry forward?”. A reading of this poem took place at the closing celebration along with a performance from The Epic Choir.

Acknowledgements
HELD was made possible by the financial support of the Ontario Arts Council and Toronto Arts Council (Craft, Exhibition Assistance and Visual Arts programs).

The artists would like to thank installers Katie Yealland, Vanessa Rieger, Jennifer Qu, and Krista Barleta.