Join Eyelevel and the artists from the sense archive for a launch of "This Body of Work: Rendering, Reassembling, and Performing Motherworlds." This exhibition and project catalogue documents a multi-year project spanning dance, movement, visual art, and community activation, exploring themes of motherhood. This Eyelevel publication includes writing from the artists and guest essays by Becka Viau and Paula John. 

The launch event will be held in Wonder'neath's project space at 2482 Maynard Street on November 30th from 11 AM to 1 PM. Masks are required at all times and will be provided. Child-minding will be available. To sign up for child minding, please click here. 

Pre-orders of This Body of Work: Rendering, Reassembling, and Performing Motherworlds are open! Click here to order a copy, which will be available for pickup at the launch or shipped internationally after November 30th.

Copies of the publication will be available for sale at the launch for $35 (cash and cards accepted), and attendance is free.

About The Project:

This Body of Work is a multi-year project by the sense archive that includes an interdisciplinary gallery exhibition, a live performance, a series of community events, and a publication. The project explores critical feminist performance(s) of motherhood and maternal agency through lived bodily/cellular experiences. The work locates the body as the initial source and archive for the labour/work of the m/other and explores the themes of care, identity, trauma/loss, transformation, and lineage. We ask the questions: How do we/you experience motherhood? What is the work of motherhood? Who mothers? What are the practices that continue to sustain patriarchal ideations of motherhood in a liberal, capitalist, and settler colonial society?

About the Artists:

Jessica Winton (she/her) is a sculptor, collaborator, writer and mother. As an advocate for art in the public realm, her work includes gallery exhibitions, unsanctioned interventions, and participatory events while congruently developing critical discussion to support her writing. Her examinations of the environment have led her work to a variety of outcomes, though they are all drawn from her belief in the ability of the arts to support and imagine alternate futures.

Sally Morgan (she/her) lives in Kjipuktuk/Halifax. She is intrinsically an improviser and a performer and continues to question and practice ‘how to prepare to be present’ every day. She is a mother, an interdisciplinary dance/performance artist, and a movement and place- based/environmental educator. She has been a part of the Canadian dance community for over 25 years, studying nationally/internationally in contemporary and postmodern dance, improvisation/contact improvisation, and somatic practices. Her work has been presented across Canada, in Europe and the USA.

Ruth Douthwright is a Canadian dance artist, educator, and mother. Her earliest movement training began at home — dancing with her mother and an intergenerational community of dancers, storytellers and musicians — a foundation that continues to shape her performance, research, and teaching in the community where she still lives. Her career spans over two decades of embodied research, performance, and pedagogy. Ruth studied at EDCM Montreal, Laban (UK), the Kyoto Arts Center, Body Weather Farm (Japan), and with Axis Syllabus International. She is the founder of Sweet Labour Art Collective and a dedicated collaborator in multidisciplinary work. Ruth co-develops dance and somatic programs with the London Arts Council and is creating movement-based support for cancer patients rooted in her own creative journey.

Acknowledgements

This publication and the expansive project that it documents are the work of many dedicated people, for which Eyelevel and the sense archive are exceedingly grateful. 

The sense archive thanks: Arts Nova Scotia, The Canada Council for the Arts, our mentors Lenka Clayton and Olive Bieringa, the Artist Residency in Motherhood, Gibraltar Point Centre for the Arts, Niklas Argawal, Main & Station Residency, Dance Nova Scotia/DANSpace, Ross Creek Centre for the Arts, The Bank, Femmes du Feu, Holly Treddenick, Peter Bennedetti, Dancemakers, Cara Spooner, Paula John, Balancing Act, Susie Burpee, Dahlia Steinburg, Sebastien Labelle, Mayworks Kjipuktuk/Halifax, Eyelevel, Saint Mary’s Art Gallery, all those participants in our Folding Together community events, Neil Balan, Annie Pelletier, Martha Steigman, Sarah Allison, CFAT, VibraFusionLab (David Bobier/Jim Ruxton), Joshua Van Tassel, Kate Holden, Rebecca Picherack, Lois Brown.

Eyelevel thanks all those who contributed to the production of this publication: Cinthia Arias Auz, Alek Green, Sally Wolchyn-Raab, Jessica Winton, Ruth Douthwright, Sally Morgan, Cara Spooner of Dancemakers, Paula John, and Becka Viau. We would like to thank this project’s photographers, Hannah Minzlof, Veronica Gutierrez, and Chris Lagesten. Finally, a big thank you to those who made the exhibition possible: Wren Tian, Pam Correll, Adam Myatt, Mitchell Wiebe, Jesse Mitchell, Sébastien Labelle and the team at Mayworks, and Jacinte Armstrong. 

Access Notes:

The doors to the event will open at 11 AM. You will be greeted by one of Eyelevel’s staff when you arrive. This launch event is a drop-in celebration of the book's release. Attendees are invited to come and go as they please and mingle. Light refreshments will be available in “to-go” bags or can be enjoyed outside. 

COVID-19 Safety:

All Eyelevel events are mask-required. Young children and those who cannot mask for sensory or medical reasons are exempt. Please keep your mask on at all times and ensure that it covers your nose, mouth and chin. Eyelevel will have KN95 earloop masks available for anyone who needs them in adult and child sizes. 

We have 2 Blue Pure 211i Max (HEPA filters) with particle and carbon filters on site that will run before, during, and after the event, and CO2 is monitored. We ask all attendees who are feeling ill to please stay home. 

To reduce disease transmission, there is no eating or drinking in the Project Space during this event. We will serve refreshments in to-go bags. If you need a break for a drink or snack, please step outside. If there is inclement weather, we will happily work with folks to find suitable places for a little snack or water break as needed. 

Mobility and Sensory Access:

The Wonder’neath Project Space is fully wheelchair accessible and has a parking lot at the front of the building. There are two non-gendered private washrooms on site: a smaller one with a change table, and a large one with grab bars and plenty of room to turn a wheelchair or transfer onto the toilet. 

Attendees must go through two doors to enter the space (the front door, which leads into an alcove, and the second door, which goes directly into the Project Space). Both doors are equipped with automatic push-bar openers. 

The project space has ample seating: stools and plastic chairs with and without armrests will be set out for attendees to use. 

The Project Space has lots of natural light and is lit with dimmable overhead fluorescent lights. The space can be visually stimulating, with lots of colourful materials and art supplies on shelves against the walls. Talking and noise can travel due to the high ceilings and concrete floors. There is a quiet room with lower ceilings, dim lighting, and a door that shuts to the side of the project space, which folks are welcome to use during the event. 

2482 Maynard and all Eyelevel events are low-scent. Please refrain from wearing scented body products or smoking shortly before entering the building.

Child Minding:

We are pleased to offer on-site child minding during this event! This is a new service we are testing, and we welcome feedback and input. Child minding will be provided by a trusted, vetted and experienced childcare worker who will look after young children and lead activities with them, such as games, puzzles and arts and crafts, while their guardians attend the book launch. 

Parents/guardians are welcome to check in with their kids as often as they would like, but they must remain on-site and available at all times. The child minder may need to hand a child back to their guardian for bathroom breaks or snacks, depending on the ages and numbers of children. Child minding is only offered from 11 AM - 1 PM, and there is no cost to participate. To ensure everyone’s safety, we ask guardians to sign up in advance. 

Other access/reading

View Eyelevel’s full accessibility notes and access commitment here: https://eyelevel.art/accessibility

View the 2482 Maynard access guide here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WptTym8XMoMtNoRCX7xA45Tr94gKDJzQTsyclw2461M/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.6hqbqy47r44n

[ID: A photograph shows a person’s hand holding up a softcover book in front of a neutral background. The book’s cover features a close-up of light-coloured woven material and strings of braided thread against a soft gray backdrop. The title appears in large, bold black text: “the sense archive: THIS BODY OF WORK.” Below it, smaller black text reads: “Rendering, Reassembling, and Performing Motherworlds.” At the top of the image, black text announces an event: “Book Launch, November thirtieth, eleven A.M. to one P.M. 2482 Maynard St.” The bottom right corner of the image includes the word “EYELEVEL” in bold black capital letters. ]