91亚色 English Professor (BA Hons. 鈥97, PhD 鈥04) has a thing for dreams, sometimes dreaming fragments of poems. She adores the odd dialogue that can only happen in that surreal state of being. So when artist Daniel Ehrenworth, a former聽fine arts cultural studies聽student at 91亚色, asked her to collaborate with him for his latest photography 补苍诲听mixed media installation 鈥 Curse.Sleep. (That鈥檚 the Thing With Trouble) 鈥 Uppal couldn鈥檛 resist.
The opening reception for the exhibition, which both Ehrenworth and Uppal will attend, will take place Thursday, Sept. 9, from 6 to 9pm at , 800 Dundas St. W., Toronto.
Right: A photograph from Daniel Ehrenworth's newest exhibit
Uppal has collaborated with Ehrenworth twice before, composing full lyrical poems, interpretations of his photographs, for his exhibitions Holocaust Dream in 2003, which was made into a book, and The Sea of Ending Pt. 1 in 2005. But this time was different. The idea for Curse.Sleep. (That鈥檚 the Thing With Trouble) was to 鈥渃reate poetic subtext鈥 or 鈥渟hort, poetic expressions鈥 of the photographs, says Uppal.
They both drew inspiration from the 1958 hit song Sleep Walk by Santo聽& Johnny. The exhibition also features three audio deconstructions by Ehrenworth of a little-known recording of Sleep Walk by Canadian-born singer Betsy Brye, which features the original lyrics that Santo聽& Johnny wrote for the song but never recorded.
鈥淭his time I see my contribution more as a poetic conversation. We are both very interested in dream landscapes and the space and emotions we inhabit when we dream,鈥 says Uppal.聽The photos embrace a range of human experience while exploring dream-states, trauma, sexuality and texture.
Left: Part of the Curse.Sleep. (That鈥檚 the Thing With Trouble) exhibit featuring the photographs of Daniel Ehrenworth and the poetry of Priscila Uppal
When Uppal first saw Ehrenworth鈥檚 photos for his new show, she immediately felt that a brief poetic missive 鈥撀燼 line, maybe expressed by the subject of the photo, or something someone in a dream might utter 鈥撀爓ould be the perfect fit, rather than a full poem. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e almost like inner confessions,鈥 she says.
Ehrenworth鈥檚 and Uppal鈥檚 artistic visions clicked. 鈥淲hen it works it鈥檚 so exciting,鈥 says Uppal. For this project, she was able to enter Ehrenworth鈥檚 dream space and he was able to enter hers. 鈥淕allery goers can enter their collective dream.鈥 The gallery space is meant to imitate a sleepwalking state.
Uppal describes聽Ehrenworth's photos as dark, surreal, stark and haunting. People in the photos take on a sort of mythical, hazy appearance. They blend, at times, into the natural landscape around them. Sort of like a dream.
Her poetry will be written on the wall in charcoal next to or below each photograph. Things like: 鈥淎nything from the past bites us like insects鈥, 鈥淲here did you misplace your heart?鈥, 鈥淪hake off memories like snowflakes鈥, 鈥淲hen you鈥檝e forgotten your phone number, the gods will call鈥 or 鈥淚鈥檓 headed for a fictional horizon.鈥
Right: A Daniel Ehrenworth photo on exhibit as part of聽his latest mixed media installation in collaboration with Priscila Uppal
Ehrenworth is a commercial photographer and a photo-based artist, who has exhibited his work at galleries across the country, including Gallery 44 (Toronto), The MacLaren Art Centre (Barrie), The New Gallery (Calgary) and the Khyber Gallery (Halifax).
Uppal is a Toronto poet and fiction writer and the author of the poetry collections , (which was shortlisted for the $50,000 Griffin Poetry Prize), and , and of the novels and . She is the editor of 补苍诲听 and the author of . She is on the Board of Directors at the Toronto Arts Council and was poet-in-residence for Canadian Athletes Now during the 2010 Vancouver Olympic and Paralympic games. Time Out London recently dubbed her 鈥淐anada鈥檚 coolest poet.鈥
Curse.Sleep. (That鈥檚 the Thing With Trouble) will run from Thursday, Sept. 9, to Sunday, Oct. 3.
For more information and gallery hours, visit the Web site.
By Sandra McLean, YFile writer. Republished courtesy of YFile鈥 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.