In the art of Lucie Chan, the implication of displacement and dispersal extends diasporic themes introduced in Lily Markiewicz’s installation. Chan has exhibited in Halifax with the Sister Visions collective and with Garry Neill Kennedy in Westward Ho. In keeping with the aims of the “Prospect” series, this is her first solo exhibition in a public gallery.
The installation Something to Carry contains five booth-like structures, three of which may be entered. Each paper enclosure is suspended from the ceiling. The “walls” are composed of ink-and-brush drawings on 8.5″ x 11″ bond paper, glued together at the edges to form sheets 8 feet high by 3.5 to 6 feet wide. The walls of structures that can be entered are formed by a double thickness of drawings, facing outward and inward. Some of drawings have been cut out and joined together to form lace-like veils.
Chan cuts up figure drawings and reassembles the parts to form a composite structure spanning floor to ceiling. The freely suspended webs of imagery evoke a spatial metaphor on home as “elsewhere.” The artist describes her process as “remembering and forgetting,” and compares the effect of her installations to “entering someone else’s dream state.”
