In-Between | Miya Turnbull | July 6th through September 1st, 2022
Gallery 203, Eltuek Arts Centre
Sydney, Nova Scotia
Opening night event on Wednesday, July 6th from 5-7pm in Gallery 203 | Artist present | refreshments by Better Bite Café | free to attend!
Viewers will meet a multitude of faces throughout this space, each with a slightly different gaze yet recognizably consistent throughout. Miya draws from the traditional use of masks worn for disguise, transformation and protection as well as metaphors for persona, archetype, self-image and identity. Her masks are three-dimensional self-portraits, created by combining photography, sculpture and collage. She forms multiple iterations of her ‘self’ to explore her experiences, perceptions, mixed Japanese Canadian heritage and inner world, making the invisible, visible.
The masks show an uncanny resemblance to the artist, but that familiarity is often altered. Miya changes the placement or even erases select facial features and cuts up and re-attaches masks together in unusual combinations that may evoke a visceral reaction. By doing so, she examines herself from an outsider perspective and separates herself from her physical appearance. Miya’s practice has expanded towards interaction and embodiment, highlighting the transformational powers of the masks when her body and energy bring them to life, this captured through video. As a group of self-portraits, she hopes the viewer sees a part of her in all, or perhaps ‘in-between’ all of them.
Miya Turnbull is a multi-disciplinary visual artist currently living in K’jipuktuk (Halifax, NS). See more of her artwork at www.miyaturnbull.com and on Instagram: @miyamask
Gallery 203 is on the second floor of Eltuek Arts Centre | open Monday through Friday, 9am-4pm | evenings and weekends by request