Hand to Ground

Abstract

(Constance) Stanzie Tooth’s thesis exhibition titled, Hand to Ground, explores ideas of origin; both the mythology of a personal origin as well as the origins of painting and representation. Interrogating the history of landscape painting, the exhibition skews notions of identity by reconsidering representations of the landscape. Inspired by Margaret Atwood’s novel Surfacing, and paired with reminiscences of her childhood in rural Ontario, Tooth’s paintings unfold oblique narratives of a communion with land. These questions of personal ecology are filtered through an intense material expression, reinforcing the idea of coming into being.

The exhibition was on view at the Karsh Masson Gallery in Ottawa from August 1st to September 10th, 2015.