Exhibition

31 October - 13 December 2008

Opening Reception / Costume Party!

Friday 31 October 7-10PM

Artist Talk

Saturday 1 November 3PM

PLATFORM centre for photographic + digital arts is pleased to present the solo exhibition, DEATHS/MEMORIALS/BIRTHS, by Toronto-based artist, Erika DeFreitas. This is a digital re-imagining of a project where the artist collected the DEATH/MEMORIALS/BIRTHS pages from the The Toronto Star and systematically subtracted information from the page by cutting out and removing all photographic images, along with practically all text. The artist has stated that since these obituaries, as objects, are deteriorating over time, she has taken to photographing them in order to challenge the notions of absence and the limits of time. When installed, the individual pieces that comprise this series take the form of a memorializing structure, creating a monument that alludes to remembrance, grief, preservation, tension and trauma.

As part of its commitment to critical discourse,  PLATFORM has commissioned local artist Heidi Eigenkind to write an interpretive essay to accompany this exhibition.

Defacement, expunging, obliteration, removal: these terms can apply both to DeFreitas’ initial reworking of the announcements from The Toronto Star and to the effects of death or loss. An artist wielding scissors or blade to remove names, faces and life stories does carry an echo of the Grim Reaper swinging a scythe through aeons of human existence. Cutting out and cutting down are not that far apart. In a sense, DeFreitas’ cutting away of all but the headings, dates and announcement borders is analogous to the reduction of flesh to bone that, barring cremation, is the fate of any body returned to air, water or earth. - Heidi Eigenkind

Please join us for the opening reception Friday, the 31st of October beginning at 7PM. Refreshments will be served. *Costumes encouraged.