FROZEN TIME

The Moment

The moment when, after many years
of hard work and a long voyage
you stand in the centre of your room,
house, half-acre, square mile, island, country,
knowing at last how you got there,
and say, I own this,

is the same moment the trees unloose
their soft arms from around you,
the birds take back their language,
the cliffs fissure and collapse
the air moves back from you like a wave
and you can't breathe.

No, they whisper.  You own nothing.
You were a visitor, time after time
climbing the hill, planting the flag, proclaiming.
We never belonged to you.
You never found us.
It was always the other way round.

--Margaret Atwood from Selected Poems (Houghton Mifflin, 1976)

 

BESSARABIAN KILIM PILLOWS

I was first introduced to Bessarabian weaving by an elegant German man in Berlin.  His rugs were beyond my means but he explained to me the unique style of these carpets:  a meeting of east and west. Bessarabia was a region comprising parts of current day Moldova, Romania and Ukraine.  This area took the flat weaving technique from Asia and the baroque floral patterns from Western Europe, with beautiful results.  After dreaming of the carpets in Germany for many years, I came across these pillows made from reclaimed rugs at a reasonable price. I love that the brown field is made from undyed dark sheep wool, evident from the variety in tone.  You can watch a video here of a woman weaving a kilim, a practice that I hope will be in my future.

 

 

19TH CENTURY TURBAN

This stunning cotton turban is currently on display at the ROM as part of BIG (a collection of fashion and textiles on a grand scale).  From 19th century Rajasthan, the 57 different patterns are created using a resist method and 7 different dye baths.  You can watch a video here outlining a resist dye method.  This turban would have marked the wealth of its wearer.  Another highlights of BIG is a couture dress from the 2011 Dior Collection accompanied by a video outlining the 500 hours taken to construct the garment.   

 

 

EL ANATSUI

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I first encountered El Anatsui's work at Art Basel in Miami a few years ago.  With acres of art on view, his piece stayed with me most.  Anatsui's glimmering tapestries carry both a majestic beauty and a layered conceptual significance.  Born in Ghana in 1944, Anatsui chooses raw and recycled material for his sculptures and installations.  Since 2002 he has been creating tapestries out of tin can lids and liquor bottle caps, linking them together with copper wire.  The pictured work, Straying Continents, was commissioned recently by the Royal Ontario Museum.  The solid expanses of lids adrift in the fine lattice of cap bands evoke continental shift while the product branding speaks of colonial introduction and subsequent local appropriation.  The piece is accompanied by a series of videos in which Anatsui speaks poetically about taking something abandoned and giving it new purpose, as well as the importance and freedom in using locally found and inexpensive materials. The undulating beauty that he creates with another's trash seems akin to the northern lights:  both intrinsically natural and somehow impossible.

RUSSELL NICHOLLS

In his spare time Russell Nicholls likes playing the acoustic guitar. He likes playing squash. He likes collecting old baseball caps. He likes bacon and eggs. Coffee might be his favourite drink. But more than anything else, Russ loves hard work. 

Over the last 15 years he has turned Aunties & Uncles into one of Toronto's most desirable places to have breakfast, lunch or for those that can't decide, brunch. A typical Saturday finds people of all ages patiently waiting in line to eat his golden brown waffles or the infamous "Breakfast Pocket."  He once told me that "people can taste the love" and I indeed agree with him. He's happiest working long days and serving people quality food at a fair price.  The love really is in the labour.

He's an active member of his community and always has time to chat with friends and strangers alike. He's ever watchful over his neighbourhood. He once thwarted a would be contractor/villain from illegally dumping a load of garbage in front of his neighbours building. For this I sometimes refer to him as "Batman".  

He has a very open, earnest way about him and it right away makes me feel welcome and at ease.  He's a good listener, captivating story teller and great friend. 

Text by guest contributor Afie Jurvanen 

MERRY CHRISTMAS