Aphoristic Currents

Meryl McMaster

BIRTH YEAR 1988
BIRTH PLACE Ottawa, Ontario

How do written texts influence our identity? In Meryl McMaster’s photograph Aphoristic Currents, wave-like ripples of twisted newspapers swirl around the artist’s head. Reminiscent of an Elizabethan ruff collar, the swirling shapes almost engulf McMaster, a commentary on the capacity of language and print media to influence our perception of identity and culture. Based in Ottawa, McMaster primarily uses photography as a method of storytelling, and in this case, personal transformation. This work is from her series “In-Between Worlds,” which explores the connections between her Plains Cree and European ancestry.

MEDIUM Digital chromogenic print on paper
DATE 2013
DIMENSIONS 127cm x 91cm
ACCESSION NUMBER 2014.12.02
CREDIT LINE Collection of the Ottawa Art Gallery: purchased in part through the support of the Elizabeth L. Gordon Art Program, a program of the Walter Duncan Gordon Foundation and administered by the Ontario Arts Foundation and purchased with the support of the Canada Council for the Arts Acquisition Assistance program, 2014
CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION
A photograph documentation of a performance piece. The image is of a person's head, with a white painted face and black dots. She is positioned in the upper right quadrant of the image with rolled newspapers folded in a circular pattern around her that fill the frame of the image. A portion of grey/blue sky is seen in the background of the upper left corner.

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