Laiwan Explained

Laiwan
Birth Place:Harare, Zimbabwe
Occupation:Artist, writer, educator, curator, gallerist
Known For:Cultural criticism, activism, participatory projects
Education:Emily Carr University of Art and Design
Simon Fraser University
Website:http://www.laiwanette.net/

Laiwan (born 1961) is a Zimbabwean interdisciplinary artist, art critic, gallerist, writer, curator and educator. Her wide-ranging practice is based in poetics and philosophy. She lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Biography

Laiwan was born in Harare, Zimbabwe in 1961. Her family emigrated to Canada in 1977 to leave the war in Rhodesia.[1]

She graduated from Emily Carr College of Art and Design (now Emily Carr University of Art and Design) in 1983.[2] In 1999, she received an MFA from Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, British Columbia. [3] [4]

She is an interdisciplinary artist interested in poetics and philosophy.[5] [6] Laiwan has won several prizes, such as the 2021 Emily Award from Emily Carr University.[7] She founded the Or Gallery in 1983,[8] where her intent was to dispel myths about the impossibility of founding and operating a gallery, particularly for women.[9] She was chair of the grunt gallery board of directors from 2010 to 2014.[10] [11]

Laiwan teaches in the Interdisciplinary Arts Program at Goddard College in Washington State.[12]

Artistic practice

Laiwan investigates embodiment through performativity, writing, music, and audio works, in a variety of media. Her practice unravels and engages in the idea of presence by way of bodily and emotional intelligence.

Her work is held in Vancouver Art Gallery collection, Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery Collection,[13] [14] [15] [16] and other private collections, and her time-based work is available from VIVO Media Arts Centre in Vancouver,[17] [18] and V-Tape in Toronto.[19]

Early work

In Laiwan's 1986 slide sequence work, The Mesmerization of Language: The Language of Mesmerization, she deals with language as a structure which has a life independent of its conveyed meaning.[20] There are three parts to this artwork.[21] Part One, titled "OBSESSION : POSSESSION" shows the poem Sappho 31 in both the original Greek and as an English translation. Part Two is titled "SPELL", wherein Laiwan translates the Christian prayer Our Father from sign language into words, deconstructing and breaking apart the text, phrase by phrase, word by word, and letter by letter. "Untitled", which is Part Three of the project, moves from language into images of landscapes.[22]

In the exhibition catalogue for Political Landscapes I (1989) at Tom Thomson Memorial Art Gallery, Stephen Hogbin describes Laiwan as an artist who examines the political relationship of geography and identity.[23]

Work

Solo exhibitions

Group exhibitions

Site specific works

In 2016 as part of the City of Vancouver's Public Art Program, the Coastal City series, Laiwan displayed Barnacle City, which was projected on various buildings throughout downtown Vancouver.[47] In 2018, Laiwan started the Mobile Barnacle City Live/Work Studio, an installation created in the SiteFactory bus, which was a part of Emily Carr University's Living Labs Ten Different Things project series. Mobile Barnacle City was installed in various locations around Chinatown in Vancouver. The project also involved T’uy’tanat-Cease Wyss and Anne Riley.[48] [49]

Curatorial

In 2014, Laiwan curated Queering the International, an exhibition part of the Queer Arts Festival, which took place at the Roundhouse Community Arts and Recreation Centre. The exhibition examined issues of sexual identity.[50]

Bibliography

Catalogues

Reviews of Laiwan's Work

Writing

Drawing Hauntology feature article in Canadian Art, Summer 2007, Vol. 24 #2 [52]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Laiwan Artspeak . 2024-02-02 . en-US.
  2. Web site: Vancouver . 520 East 1st Avenue . V5t 0h2 . Bc . Canada . 2023-08-01 . Laiwan Wins 2023 VIVA Award for the Visual Arts . 2024-02-02 . www.ecuad.ca . en.
  3. Web site: LAIWAN, busy SCA alumni . 2024-02-02 . www.sfu.ca . en.
  4. Web site: Laiwan » Authors » Talonbooks . 2024-02-02 . talonbooks.com.
  5. News: (Da bao)(Takeout): Good to Go – Canadian Art. Canadian Art. 2017-03-18. en-US.
  6. Web site: Unconventional Art Practices: An Evening of Artist Talks. SiteFactory. en-US. 2017-03-18. 2018-03-06. https://web.archive.org/web/20180306142225/http://www.sitefactory.ca/calendar/2016/3/20/june. dead.
  7. Web site: Vancouver . 520 East 1st Avenue . V5t 0h2 . Bc . Canada . 2021-05-13 . Attending to Small Marvels with Interdisciplinary Artist Laiwan . 2022-03-24 . www.ecuad.ca . en.
  8. Web site: About — L A I W A N . 2022-03-24 . L A I W A N . en-US.
  9. Book: Williams. Carol. Vancouver Anthology, Stan Douglas, ed.. 2011. Talonbooks/Or Gallery. Vancouver. 978-0-88922-614-2. 209.
  10. Web site: grunt gallery Annual Report, 2013–2014. grunt gallery, Vancouver. March 18, 2017.
  11. Web site: grunt gallery Annual Report 2011–2012. grunt gallery, Vancouver. March 18, 2017.
  12. News: Laiwan – Goddard College. Goddard College. 2017-03-18. en-US. 2017-03-19. https://web.archive.org/web/20170319111525/https://www.goddard.edu/people/laiwan/. dead.
  13. Web site: The Heartless Series: Little Women – Laiwan. belkin.pastperfectonline.com. 2017-03-18. https://web.archive.org/web/20170319113318/http://belkin.pastperfectonline.com/webobject/4A6F6923-49BD-4676-899F-479103762500. 2017-03-19. dead.
  14. Web site: she who had scanned the flower of the world – Laiwan. belkin.pastperfectonline.com. 2017-03-18.
  15. Web site: The Book of Fragilities – Laiwan. belkin.pastperfectonline.com. 2017-03-18.
  16. Web site: The Blind Heart: a book fan – Laiwan. belkin.pastperfectonline.com. 2017-03-18.
  17. Web site: Automatopoeia Video Out – Vancouver, British Columbia. www.videoout.ca. en. 2017-03-18.
  18. Web site: Video Out Catalog – "Remotely In Touch" by Laiwan. www.videoout.ca. en. 2017-03-18.
  19. Web site: Video Vtape. www.vtape.org. en-US. 2017-03-18.
  20. Book: Pakasaar. Helga. Broken Muse. 1986. Vancouver Art Gallery. Vancouver. 0-920095-59-3. 5.
  21. Web site: The Language of Mesmerization / The Mesmerization of Language. www.belkin.ubc.ca. 2017-03-18.
  22. Web site: The Language of Mesmerization / The Mesmerization of Language. www.belkin.ubc.ca. 2017-03-18.
  23. Book: Hogbin. Stephen. Political Landscape Introduction. 1989. Tom Tomson Memorial Art Gallery. Owen Sound, Ontario. 0-929021-04-5. 15.
  24. Web site: Laiwan: Traces, Erasures, Resists .
  25. Web site: Wadsley . Helena . 2022-02-07 . Laiwan . 2023-04-27 . Galleries West . en-ca.
  26. Web site: "Traces, Erasures, Resists" — Laiwan . 2023-04-27 . “Traces, Erasures, Resists” — Laiwan . en.
  27. Web site: Gallery Exhibition / "How Water Remembers" by Laiwan – Massy Arts . 2022-03-24 . en-US.
  28. Web site: Vancouver Heritage Foundation Projects: The WALL. Vancouver Heritage Foundation. March 18, 2017.
  29. Web site: Or Gallery Exhibition: "Loose Work". March 18, 2017. March 4, 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160304031458/http://www.orgallery.org/loose-work. dead.
  30. Web site: News : On Main Gallery. Gallery. On Main. onmaingallery.com. en-US. 2017-03-18. https://web.archive.org/web/20170319113908/http://onmaingallery.com/news/2008/08/11/laiwan-loose-work/. 2017-03-19. dead.
  31. News: Laiwan: Duet: Etude for Solitudes. 2006-03-11. YYZ. 2017-03-18. en-US.
  32. Web site: Quartet for the Year 4698 or 5760: improvisation for four projectors Open Space. openspace.ca. en. 2017-03-18.
  33. Web site: Laiwan: PANDEMIA — The Movie . 2022-03-24 . libby.ecuad.ca.
  34. Web site: "Thought, outside" group exhibition at the Western Front — L A I W A N . 2022-03-24 . L A I W A N . 24 November 2020 . en-US.
  35. Web site: Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery Beginning with the Seventies GLUT. belkin.ubc.ca. 2018-03-10.
  36. News: Through a Window: Visual Art and SFU 1965–2015 – SFU Galleries – Simon Fraser University. 2017-03-18.
  37. Web site: (Da bao)(Takeout) Plug In ICA. plugin.org. en. 2017-03-18. https://web.archive.org/web/20170319113537/https://plugin.org/exhibitions/2013/da-baotakeout. 2017-03-19. dead.
  38. Web site: (Da bao)(Takeout). Surrey. City of. www.surrey.ca. en-US. 2017-03-18.
  39. News: (Da bao)(Takeout): Good to Go – Canadian Art. Canadian Art. 2017-03-18. en-US.
  40. Web site: C.1983 – Presentation House Gallery. presentationhousegallery.org. en-US. 2017-03-18. 2011-12-23.
  41. Web site: Vancouver Art Gallery. www.vanartgallery.bc.ca. 2017-03-18. https://web.archive.org/web/20190226162208/http://www.vanartgallery.bc.ca/the_exhibitions/exhibit_everything_everyday.html. 2019-02-26. dead.
  42. Web site: HOW SOON IS NOW: Contemporary Art from Here AHVA – The Department of Art History, Visual Art & Theory. ahva.ubc.ca. en-US. 2017-03-18.
  43. Web site: Vancouver Art Gallery. www.vanartgallery.bc.ca. 2017-03-18. https://web.archive.org/web/20180802071451/https://www.vanartgallery.bc.ca/the_exhibitions/exhibit_how_soon_is_now.html. 2018-08-02. dead.
  44. Book: Liz, Park. Limits of Tolerance : Re-framing Multicultural State Policy. 2007-01-01. e-artexte.ca. en. 2017-03-18. 9780973271171.
  45. Web site: Laiwan: Call Numbers – The Library Recordings – other sights. othersights.ca. en-US. 2017-03-18.
  46. Web site: Laiwan Artspeak. en-US. 2019-03-09.
  47. Web site: Works by Laiwan and Ryan Peter part of Vancouver's latest Coastal City public art installations. 2016-06-14. Georgia Straight Vancouver's News & Entertainment Weekly. en. 2019-03-09.
  48. Web site: Laiwan: Mobile Barnacle City. SiteFactory. en-US. 2019-03-09.
  49. Web site: Projects / Ten Different Things 2017 – 2018.
  50. Web site: Queering the International speaks to love, hate around the world. 2014-07-30. Georgia Straight Vancouver's News & Entertainment Weekly. en. 2019-03-09.
  51. Book: Laiwan. DAMP: Contemporary Vancouver Media Art. Anvil Press. 2008. 978-1895636895. Vancouver. 112–113. LUNG: toward embodying.
  52. News: Ed Pien: Drawing Hauntology – Canadian Art. Canadian Art. 2017-03-18. en-US.

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