the space in which we have dissolved
Brendan Hendry, Jessy Kitchen, and Eli Nolet
- / James Gallery
the space in which we have dissolved explores how place affects identity formation in visible and invisible ways through works by emerging Hamilton-born artists Brendan Hendry, Jessy Kitchen, and Eli Nolet. Historically, Hamilton marketed its identity in the 19th and 20th centuries as working class, masculine, and cisheterosexual. Today, this prevailing public image complicates personal identity for its diverse inhabitants. Growing up with the pressures of Hamilton’s formerly inflexible identity, the artists experience a sense of dissociation with their hometown, and by extension the stabilizing force of identity itself. In the process, the body becomes more tangible, a visible space where identity can be made one’s own. Hendry, Kitchen, and Nolet examine how visibility can both liberate and discipline identity. the space in which we have dissolved visualizes disidentification and place through the eyes of these Hamilton artists, asking viewers to consider how the visible conditions the invisible.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS:
Brendan Hendry is a born and raised Hamilton based artist/musician. His collage work blends fragmented, hyper coloured, 70’s/80’s gay porn, together with personal stories and places. Main sources of inspiration throughout his projects range from themes of identity, sex and body politics, self destruction, to nostalgia, and barren landscapes. Visit: linktr.ee/brendanhendry69
Jessy Kitchen is an interdisciplinary artist currently working on her Master’s degree at YorkU. Kitchen’s research explores the emotional and material intersections of grief, identity and objects as intertwined with art and working-class labour. Through research-creation she seeks to address the complexity of relationships between identity, objects and loss. Exploring how visible and invisible aspects of identity are constructed and deconstructed through objects and location, and in particular the home. Visit: www.instagram.com/jssylk/
Eli Nolet is an interdisciplinary artist from the occupied territories of the Erie, Neutral, Huron-Wendat, Haudenosaunee, and Mississaugas (otherwise known as hamilton, ontario). Currently in their third year of studies at McMaster University towards a B.F.A. in Studio Art, Eli’s artistic practice explores identity and selfhood through performative activations of static image and text work. Visit: elinolet.com
about the curator:
Alexis Moline is an independent curator, arts professional and community services coordinator who has worked in Vancouver, Toronto and Hamilton. She received her Master of Museum Studies in collaboration with Sexual Diversity Studies from the University of Toronto. She was recently the Curator for the Building Cultural Legacies project at the Hamilton Arts Council.
©2024 Hamilton Artists Inc.