In the winters of 2012 and 2013, I conducted sculptural research in the northern Alberta mining town of Fort McMurray. Through unconventional methods and serendipitous occurrences, I was able to secure personal tours with a site manager of The Suncor Energy tar sand strip mines and reclamation sites.
This on site field research inspired An Unkindness- my first solo museum exhibition presented at The Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.
Using all synthetic materials including black high density polypropylene, Rink is a fully functional scaled down hockey rink. Guests to the museum were invited to check out a pair of hockey skates and skate alone on the oily rink beneath a multi-part suspended sculptural installation that visually and materially examines the devastated and industrialized Canadian landscape and cultural identity by way of extraction economy and colonization. I am the daughter of a former goalie for the Winnipeg Jewish Mens Hockey League. I recall childhood memories of watching my father skate alone around the rink before each game in a state of deep contemplation. In Rink, I wanted to recreate a space that offers a similar embodied and cerebral experience for the skater.