Lily of the Valley, Lenore R.S. Lim (Provided)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Writer and poet Lakshmi Gill and artist Lenore R.S. Lim collaborate in ‘ Scattering & Gathering’, an exhibition on Filipino migration.
Opening at the Roundhouse Exhibition Hall on July 8, 2018, ‘Scattering & Gathering’ presents the dialogue between the poetry of Lakshmi Gill and the art of printmaker Lenore R.S. Lim. The exhibition centres around Gill’s experiences as an immigrant as told through her poetry and through Lim’s prints. Decades after their respective departures from their home country, the Philippines, both Lim and Gill have come together to collaborate on this rare occasion in Vancouver, Canada.
Gill’s poems in ‘Scattering & Gathering’ were written between 2010 and 2015. They reflect her multi-ethnic heritage and her wanderings. Canada features prominently, along with Hong Kong and the United Kingdom which were also once home to the poet. Gill, Lim and guest curator Jing Palad, selected key images from Lim’s extensive body of work that create a dialogue between the poetry and the print. “I love Lenore’s prints. Some prints embodied the intent or visualized the spirit behind the poems.” said Gill.
Lenore R.S. Lim
The exhibition’s theme of Filipino migration is also examined by several additional Filipino artists including Danvic Briones, Chito Maravilla and Esmie Gayo McLaren; photographers Stuart Naval Dee and Art Calapatia; and poets Maria Castillo and Wilbur Victoria. Their works provide insights into their personal experiences as once new settlers to Canada.
Scattering & Gathering is presented by The Roundhouse Community Center, The Filipino Music and Art Foundation in B.C., in cooperation with The Philippine Consulate General in Vancouver. The exhibition will have an opening reception on July 8th from 2:00 – 5:00 pm and will run from the 7th to the 12th of July at the Roundhouse Community Arts and Recreation Centre, 181 Roundhouse Mews, Vancouver, BC.
Media Contact: Esmie Gayo McLaren
Email: esmie@meld-arts.com | Mobile: 7 78-385-6353
About Lakshmi Gill
Lakshmi Gill is a poet of Spanish-Filipina-Punjabi heritage who moved from the Philippines to San Francisco in 1959 to attend school. Nine days shy of turning sixteen, Gill, as a multi-ethnic youth in the late 50’s, was suddenly thrust into an environment drastically different from any she had previously known. Political turmoil in the Philippines also created issues for Gill as she was forbidden by her father to visit the country until Martial Law was rescinded and the dictator Ferdinand Marcos was no longer in power. Nevertheless, her connection to her home country was never severed. She continued to exchange letters with friends, and after Marcos had been deposed Gill made more frequent trips back to the Philippines.
In 1964 Gill came to Canada and pursued her M.A. at the University of British Columbia. She was granted Canadian citizenship in 1971. Her work as an educator has taken her to Hong Kong and also the UK for extended periods. Like many Filipinos living outside of the Philippines, Lakshmi’s life has been interspersed with international travel and her body of work reflects this unsettled way of life. Her writing often brings forth a spectrum of observations from her own foreignness, to her experience with loss, and the enlightenment brought about by embracing diversity. Her multi-ethnic heritage further enriches her work’s complexity and colour, using mythology and imagery from various cultural perspectives.
In Scattering and Gathering, Gill concludes her journey as an immigrant with a triumphant tone. She has re-examined her perspective and now considers the positive outcomes of migration – after all it was in Canada where she married, raised a family, relocated her parents, and found a welcoming community.
About Lenore R.S. Lim
The beginning of Lenore R.S. Lim’s immigration story is not unlike that of many Filipinos because her journey started with securing an employment opportunity in another country. In 1975 Lim moved to Alabama to teach art in the county public school system. She later moved to Vancouver, where over the course of several years she took on a variety of professions. She worked as a bank teller, a customer service representative, and, after receiving her Early Childhood Education certificate, Lim organized a preschool for her church. It would be her work with children that provided the opportunity for another move.
In 1988 Lim returned to the United States to teach early childhood education and art at the United Nations International School. There she found her artistic benefactor – the city of New York. New York was and continues to be a fertile ground for art and creative printmaking. It is also the home of the MoMA, where Lenore revelled in the art of Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg and Jim Dine, artists who, upon the establishment of the Universal Limited Art Editions, produced an important body of work on prints. At this time Lim began to resume her original pursuit, which was the creation of her own art. The distance from Lim’s native country also allowed her work to depart from the persistent need to brand one’s oeuvre with either a political stand or a singular aesthetic. Lim’s art is a testament to her
constant exploration of the technical possibilities of printmaking, her continued collaboration with her printmaster, and her ongoing relationship with her culture as expressed in her use of plant life, Philippine crafts and mythology.
Lenore is decidedly summing up her story on an optimistic note. Her work emanates a positive point of view toward her childhood, her parents, and her home in the Philippines, expressed in an artistic language she mastered while living in New York. The development of Lim’s art has greatly benefited from her immigration experience as her technique, her point of view, and her aesthetic are a byproduct of her openness to new places and interactions.
About the Curator
Among the key organizers of this exhibition, Jing Palad is the most recent to immigrate to Canada. After living an itinerant life for nearly 2 decades, Palad decided to settle in Vancouver in 2016. She was born in Manila, Philippines but moved to Hong Kong to work as a graphic designer. Several years later she relocated to Singapore where she lived and worked for about 9 years. She then studied the Spanish language in Southern Spain, and not long after decided to shift her career in the direction of visual arts. She earned her Masters in Art Management in Italy. After graduating she moved back to Singapore where she worked on promoting contemporary Southeast Asian art. Before S cattering & Gathering, Palad’s most recent project was curating a comprehensive exhibition on Philippine Modern Art under Leon Gallery, the Philippines’ premiere auction house.