Papers by Sheilah [Wilson] Restack
Open Research is a publicly accessible, curated repository for the preservation and dissemination... more Open Research is a publicly accessible, curated repository for the preservation and dissemination of scholarly and creative output of the OCAD University community. Material in Open Research is open access and made available via the consent of the author and/or rights holder on a non-exclusive basis.
Visual Encounters in the Study of Rural Childhoods, 2018
Journal for Artistic Research, 2014
The Invisible Inside the Visible began as an information gathering project in a rural Nova Scotia... more The Invisible Inside the Visible began as an information gathering project in a rural Nova Scotian community. Its purpose was to locate physical evidence of a century old landmark, a racetrack. While collecting interviews and maps drawn by residents, it became clear that the memory of the racetrack location was both variable and imprecise. The physical location defied specificity in either drawn or oral recounting. This project investigates the mutable nature of memory, as evidenced in the journey to find the track. I was curious about the nature of lived and collective memory versus the physical evidence of a historical site. Hierarchies of perception and location were turned upside down by heterogeneous memory of collective experience. The oral memory was fluid in location. This destabilized the existence of the actual mark; the imagined locations unmoored the mark from its physical existence. The performance onto the track was a mirage made tangible. The documentation was put into newspaper form and distributed in the community, creating another utterance of location to add to the stories collected.
Movement Research, 2018
Conversation with artist Chris Domenick about collaboration, material, tasks, children, friendshi... more Conversation with artist Chris Domenick about collaboration, material, tasks, children, friendship and place. O
Comparative Media Analysis Journal, 2018
The increasing presence and convergence of cinema in contemporary art has mobilized numerous theo... more The increasing presence and convergence of cinema in contemporary art has mobilized numerous theoretical curatorial practices that seek to articulate new discursive modes of spectatorship. This article reviews the exhibition Public Intimacies, shown at the Super 8 Hotel as part of the Images Festival in April 2018. Through its alternative curatorial design, Public Intimacies complicates conceptions of spatial-temporal intimacy in participative viewership, creating environments that maximize ambiguity.
Interview 'Meet the Restacks' with Michael Sicinski, Dani [Leventhal] Restack, Sheilah [Wilson] R... more Interview 'Meet the Restacks' with Michael Sicinski, Dani [Leventhal] Restack, Sheilah [Wilson] Restack for fall 2017 cinemascope.
A conversation Four Ways was sparked between four artists around ideas brought forward in the re... more A conversation Four Ways was sparked between four artists around ideas brought forward in the recent show, Repeat Pressure Until curated by myself at Ortega y Gasset Projects and the concurrent release of the zine, Mother Mother. The show utilized ideas of insistence as both strengthening through emphasis, and falling apart through over-repetition. The gendered female body is presented as benignly understandable and simultaneously profane.
Conversation Four Ways was borne out of a desire to continue the conversation with artists from the show and the zine publication. The idea was to create yet another kind of container that could hold thoughts and ideas in response to questions that I had after working on both the show and publication. Artists participating in the conversation are Dana Hoey (DH), Leeza Meksin (LM) and Carmen Winant (CW) and myself (SW).
Body as Omen acknowledges the multiple ways in which the body can be articulated as a proposal. E... more Body as Omen acknowledges the multiple ways in which the body can be articulated as a proposal. Each artist addresses the intertwining of both transcendence and unequivocal placement within the body. Perhaps the belief that there is some way of creating a vessel within the vessel is absurd, doomed to fail. Or perhaps there is no gesture that holds vulnerability and agency together as clearly as the body performing. Body as Omen proposes the articulation of present tense desiring future, but always existing as the moment that has been a hinge between performance, body and desire.We know our ships are riddled with holes.
The Invisible Inside the Visible began as an information gathering project in a rural Nova Scotia... more The Invisible Inside the Visible began as an information gathering project in a rural Nova Scotian community. Its purpose was to locate physical evidence of a century old landmark, a racetrack. While collecting interviews and maps drawn by residents, it became clear that the memory of the racetrack location was both variable and imprecise. The physical location defied specificity in either drawn or oral recounting.
This project investigates the mutable nature of memory, as evidenced in the journey to find the track. I was curious about the nature of lived and collective memory versus the physical evidence of a historical site. Hierarchies of perception and location were turned upside down by heterogeneous memory of collective experience. The oral memory was fluid in location. This destabilized the existence of the actual mark; the imagined locations unmoored the mark from its physical existence.
The performance onto the track was a mirage made tangible. The documentation was put into newspaper form and distributed in the community, creating another utterance of location to add to the stories collected.
Books by Sheilah [Wilson] Restack
VIsual Encounters of Rural Childhood, 2018
Visual Encounters in the Study of Rural Childhoods brings together visual studies and childhood s... more Visual Encounters in the Study of Rural Childhoods brings together visual studies and childhood studies to explore images of childhood in the study of rurality and rural life. The volume highlights how the voices of children themselves remain central to investigations of rural childhoods. Contributions look at representations and experiences of rural childhoods from both the Global North and Global South (including U.S., Canada, Haiti, India, Sweden, Slovenia, South Africa, Russia, Timor-Leste, and Colombia) and consider visuals ranging from picture books to cell phone video to television.
mother / mountain / ghost was published in the peer reviewed anthology, Performing Motherhood, ed... more mother / mountain / ghost was published in the peer reviewed anthology, Performing Motherhood, edited by Amber Kinser, Kryn Freehling-Burton and Terri Hawkes, published by York University, Demeter Press, 2014. Image and text explore questions of fluid versus fixed identity, and potential for new imagined spaces out of what exists.
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Papers by Sheilah [Wilson] Restack
Conversation Four Ways was borne out of a desire to continue the conversation with artists from the show and the zine publication. The idea was to create yet another kind of container that could hold thoughts and ideas in response to questions that I had after working on both the show and publication. Artists participating in the conversation are Dana Hoey (DH), Leeza Meksin (LM) and Carmen Winant (CW) and myself (SW).
This project investigates the mutable nature of memory, as evidenced in the journey to find the track. I was curious about the nature of lived and collective memory versus the physical evidence of a historical site. Hierarchies of perception and location were turned upside down by heterogeneous memory of collective experience. The oral memory was fluid in location. This destabilized the existence of the actual mark; the imagined locations unmoored the mark from its physical existence.
The performance onto the track was a mirage made tangible. The documentation was put into newspaper form and distributed in the community, creating another utterance of location to add to the stories collected.
Books by Sheilah [Wilson] Restack
Conversation Four Ways was borne out of a desire to continue the conversation with artists from the show and the zine publication. The idea was to create yet another kind of container that could hold thoughts and ideas in response to questions that I had after working on both the show and publication. Artists participating in the conversation are Dana Hoey (DH), Leeza Meksin (LM) and Carmen Winant (CW) and myself (SW).
This project investigates the mutable nature of memory, as evidenced in the journey to find the track. I was curious about the nature of lived and collective memory versus the physical evidence of a historical site. Hierarchies of perception and location were turned upside down by heterogeneous memory of collective experience. The oral memory was fluid in location. This destabilized the existence of the actual mark; the imagined locations unmoored the mark from its physical existence.
The performance onto the track was a mirage made tangible. The documentation was put into newspaper form and distributed in the community, creating another utterance of location to add to the stories collected.