To bend is a purposeful action. It changes the nature of something and how it relates to the world. In Ikebana, the centuries old Japanese art of flower arranging, relationships are at the core of the practice. Grounded in key tenets of shape, line, form and function, it is the act of arrangement that brings out the inner qualities of objects. With purpose and intent, collecting, positioning and establishing connections creates meaning. Connections–within and between the work–at the centre of the exhibition Bend.
Elisabeth Belliveau, Celia Perrin Sidarous, Jon Sasaki, Ewelina Skowronska and Justin Waddell all engage with, and are influenced by, Ikebana in their work materially, aesthetically or conceptually, and each have a unique relationship to Japan. Using traditional and contemporary materials and media, the work in Bend explores what it means to transform and to adapt–to a time, a place, or an idea–and considers what can be learned from the Japanese art of flower arranging and what we can learn about ourselves and the world we live in.
At the core of Ikebana is building relationships - like the flowers from which arrangements are built, these relationships are delicate and transient, but have the potential to create bridges that cross cultures and continents. While we have the technological ability to travel further and faster than ever before, it is also a time of closing off and protectionism. Building relationships creates sites of potentiality, ones that can bridge between objects, individuals and across cultures, into a collective future. The works in Bend consider how we fit in, how we adapt and how we interact with the world, and ultimately reflect on how we can create purpose in the spaces in which we exist.