Galerie
du Nouvel-Ontario
Sudbury
ON
Belonging With an Interconnected Ego
16 September 2017
An accompanying text by Nico
Glaude, on the Z’otz* Collective’s exhibition
EVICTED FROM THE ANTHILL
EVICTED FROM THE ANTHILL
No artist can ever be without ego. It’s one of the
motivating factors that make everyday people want to become artists. Aside from
the creative process and expression, there are many elements that go hand in
hand with both ego and art. Validation, recognition, selling a piece of art,
getting a standing ovation, winning a grant or receiving an award, all feed
into and fuel the creative ego and the desire to strive for more. At times, an
artist might not have much more than their ego to sustain that primordial
drive; tackling bigger projects can mean greater success, more press and more
opportunities when artists let their ego guide them.
Speaking with the Z’otz* Collective, it’s surprising how
little consideration is given to each member’s individual ego. In fact,
complete disregard of ego is an ever-present factor in their art-making
process. Their murals are rarely sketched out beforehand; each individual of
this 3-piece collective comes to the wall with their own separate ideas;
there’s little to no verbal communication between them as they work, although
they do leave little hints behind for the other members as to what direction
they think the piece should take and what it should look like.
Interestingly enough, these hints are often misconstrued and can become
something entirely different than what was initially intended, and so the piece
becomes something new, something unexpected. It can seem like an obvious
notion, especially when working within a collective, but that dynamic can play
itself out multiple times throughout the creation of one mural. In a way, it’s
that give and take between each individual member’s ego that allows the Z’otz*
Collective to create these ephemeral murals that seem to have been created by
the same hand.
Their murals are silent narratives, incorporating familiar
objects, elements of nature and animals that all blend into one linear piece.
While many of these individual elements might seem familiar, that familiarity
gives way to the ambiguity of the final, interconnected piece. Merging these
elements creates a sense of uneasiness, but the ambiguity of it all invites us
to look past the unknown and embrace a certain sense of ambivalence, which
finally leads to a place of understanding. We realize that the Z’otz*
Collective’s murals aren’t about the singular, standalone elements, but rather
are about the process of becoming aware of the whole—that there are no separate
elements and that everything is interconnected.
Part of this portrayal of interconnectedness is achieved
through the depiction of animals and our personal relationships with them.
There are a lot of conflicting emotions and actions at play between humans and
animals. The Z’otz* murals remind us that life demands respect. After all,
we’re all interconnected and we need to be partners with life—to embrace it, to
nourish it and to understand our impact.
The Z’otz* Collective’s murals engage and connect with
viewers by bringing them back to themselves. Even if the imaginative settings
are unfamiliar, the ambiguity really doesn’t come across as alienating. Rather,
the odd juxtapositions arouse curiosity in the overall narrative and can
ultimately lead to an understanding of the work that’s rooted in a deep sense
of belonging.
____________________________________________
Nico Glaude is a Sudbury based
installation artist, curator and raconteur. Everyone has an emotional
investment in Sudbury and he values that by creating and curating work that is
as fried, sweaty, cheap, fun and awful as any other experience you can have
here. Mind of nickel, heart of gold.