Sumac, 2017
Performance/intervention
Video still from documentation by Ryan Ferko and Parastoo Anoushapour
Sumac was an intervention/durational artwork developed in real-time, in response to preliminary research about the sumac plant and my personal felt experiences of OCAD University's Anniversary Gallery. I was particularly interested in exploring the notion of boundary/containment/'embeddedness' within the spaces of the gallery and the areas of the building where the future architectural extension will be sited. My intention through the performance was to allow for genuine curiosity, exploration and process in handling the sumac as material. Experientially I observed its soft texture, the seeds as generative units, its animalic 'stag-horn' form, and the staining and absorption of its colour on my skin and a bisque-fired clay vessel. I was led to contemplate the sumac's potency, and the ways in which it might transgress or subvert the boundaries of the institutional space.