|
|
| The Gown of Stillness-Gown of Peace Art Installation by Magie Dominic |
Major Peace Art Installation Comes to Moncton
Author and artist, Magie Dominic will be in Moncton this week for a reading
and life writing workshop and to exhibit her installation The Gown of Stillness-Gown of Peace.
Events will be held at Galerie 12 in the Aberdeen Cultural Centre, 140
Botsford Street, Moncton.
"In 1994, I contacted writers, artists, environmentalists and peace groups
throughout the world. I invited them to send fabric pieces, which I planned to sew into an installation I was creating called
The Gown of Stillness. Their fabric would represent a symbolic hope for global peace," Dominic says.
|
| Gown detail, Holland and five Canadian Provinces |
She enclosed a note that said, "If this world were a small child in need
of healing, I would buy it a hospital gown, extra large, and give it intensive care. I would ask people, all over the world
to add beauty, grace and love. The Gown of Stillness is a visual letter, a work in progress."
"There was a metaphoric response that was completely and utterly unplanned,"
Dominic says. "Across borders and cultures, across races and faiths, the majority of people worldwide, strangers to one another,
responded with lace. A global language seemed to exist in reference to a hope for peace that stepped outside the parameters
of language, as we know it. Lace equalled language, equalled hope, equalled peace."
|
| Gown Detail, Former Yugoslavia, Japan, Canada and U.S. lace |
Dominic received lace and embroidery from Canadian poets, writers, musicians
and composers; embroidery created by a woman who had been raped in the Former Yugoslavia and was now living in a safe house;
delicate fabric from a Canadian politician; thin material from an actor dying from AIDS; lace from Europe; pieces from wedding
gowns and children's clothing.
"Everyone sharing a universal sensory perspective," she says. "Lace equalled
symbol; equalled language; equalled voice – fabric overlapping like notes in a global symphony. The hope, portrayed
through fabric from people around the world, has become a sound unto itself, the sound of peace, the sound of lace."
Currently, The Gown of Stillness-Gown of Peace contains fabric from
91 people in 15 countries including several people in New Brunswick. Each year its dimensions increase.
"My hope is that it will one day be room size so people entering the installation
will actually be entering the Gown," Dominic says.
The Gown of Stillness-Gown of Peace was recently on exhibit at The United Nations in New York City. It may be viewed Friday December 10th from 10am until
5pm, and Saturday & Sunday December 11th & 12th from 1pm until 5pm at Galerie 12 in the Aberdeen Cultural Centre,
140 Botsford Street, Moncton.
|
| The Queen of Peace Room by Magie Dominic |
On Friday December 10th at 7:30pm Dominic will read from The Queen of
Peace Room and a new manuscript in progress followed by discussion. In her recent book, The Queen of Peace Room,
Dominic writes about her life with epilepsy, her experiences growing up in Newfoundland in the 1940’s and 50’s
and New York in the 60's to the present day. Dominic explores violence against women in the second half of the twentieth century
and unearths the memory of a generation.
"Dominic offers a new understanding of ones own life, as well as the lives
of others. The Queen of Peace Room is expansive life writing. The refusal of one human soul to let go of its dignity,
its absolute unwillingness to surrender, is genuinely heroic," said Ms. Magazine. "The Queen of Peace Room is a courageous
and spiritual book."
The Queen of Peace Room is a book about re-inventing self. It is a book about addressing memories; regardless of the pain, indifference or
fear those memories may represent.
"Magie Dominic puts her guts on every page without being mawkish, with
sentiment, but without sentimentality. You'll love this book," said Donald Forst, editor-in-chief of The Village Voice.
The Queen of Peace Room began as a poem. It went on to be nominated for Book of the Year, Autobiography, ForeWord Magazine, 2002; The
Judy Grahn Award, Best Nonfiction, 2003 and for The Canadian Women's Studies Association Award, 2004.
On Saturday December 11th from 10am until 12:30pm Magie will give a Life
Writing Workshop. Registration is $25.
The workshop will provide hands on writing projects and explore essential
elements of a story, and how to develop and organise memories.
This workshop is open to everyone willing to make the commitment of a few
hours to begin the process of life writing.
"Everyone has a story to tell and no one can articulate it as well as the
person who has lived that life," Dominic says. "This workshop can be used to develop your own material. It will offer an opportunity
to write about experiences that are unique to the individual — family stories, personal experiences and memories of
the past."
|
| Author and Artist, Magie Dominic |
The Queen of Peace Room is life writing and Dominic will use the book in the workshop as an example of how the many aspects of a life can
be gathered and woven.
Magie Dominic is a writer and artist living in New York City. She was born
in Corner Brook, Newfoundland. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Globe and Mail and the Village
Voice.
One of the founding members of the Off-Off Broadway movement of the sixties
and a member of Poets Fast for Peace during the Vietnam War, she has walked with Ginsberg, given poetry readings with
Moondog, written poetry, short stories, essays and non-fiction, and developed a creative writing curriculum for high school
students at risk.
Email this Article |
Giv'er Atlantic Canada!
|
