melanie garcia x jason selman

plaster, acrylic paint, transfers, ink on canvas

each 24” x 36”

2019

Identity, transformation, symbolism and memory.

Interpreting four poems by Jason Selman.

In 2019, poet Jason Selman (Kalmunity Collective) and I embarked on interconnected seven week artist-in-residence workshops at Laval Senior Academy. Jason worked with grade 9 English Language Arts students crafting poetry and spoken word based on reflections from Talking Book, an anthology by Kalmunity Collective. The themes addressed in the anthology were conflict, rejection, struggles, purpose, love, identity, and emotion; these became the starting points of the student poetry.

Once the poems had been completed, my work with grade 10/11 Arts Concentration students began. Each art student selected an anonymous poem to visually interpret by creating mixed media collages, examining themes, symbolism, personal narrative and the use of text in visual art.

Simultaneously, Jason and I created works using the same guidelines that the students were following. I chose to depict the poems as two pairs of diptychs.

The first two poems, Arc Life At Play and Bird That Is Black, were illustrated and interpreted words that identified with personal symbolism, either metaphysical, personal affinity or simply a recognition to past artistic concerns.

For Black Canada and For Roy, I extrapolated from Jason’s words an exploration of my family, ethnicity and personal history.

Jason’s work deals largely with Black identity and intersectional masculinity, themes that I couldn’t rightfully interpret or illustrate hence choosing to transpose his truths into personal narratives that are more reflexive of my own.

With funding from ELAN/ACE arts, CHSSN, Cultures in the Schools (MEES)