A Huge Sad Sigh of Relief
A Huge Sad Sigh of Relief is a deep plunge into dismal absurdity. Mentee Grace Papineau-Couture and mentor Karen Asher have come together to create an experimental video that unites humour and emotional crises into a strange sad soup. Enter the inescapable psychedelic dream world of emotional overload...
Grace filmed in the beautiful ocean. Karen filmed in the scuzzy bath, pee-tainted wading pool and filthy car wash. Ideas were exchanged back and forth until Grace magically transformed the footage into a dreamy video with a haunting soundtrack.
A Huge Sad Sigh of Relief.mov
Grace Papineau-Couture is an Edmonton-based artist currently attending the University of Alberta’s BFA program. Grace works in various mediums including video, photo, performance and printmaking. Currently, during quarantine, Grace is interested in exploring pencil crayon drawings as a primary form of art-making due to its accessibility.
Grace’s work explores the ideas of humour, absurdity and intimacy. Through her visual art, she hopes to depict images of things people feel but can’t quite put their finger on. In her exploration of pencil crayon drawing, she uses her learning disability (Dyscalculia) to create psychedelic, warped spaces and explore the absurdity of mundane memories.
The sudden change of accessibility to materials has Grace interested in exploring these themes in different ways. Through this experience, she has become interested in the act of looking, or living in a sustained moment and questioning how her art practice will change, as well as how her relationships and levels of intimacy with others will change.
Karen Asher is an artist living on Treaty 1 Territory in Winnipeg whose work explores her obsession with stress, absurdity, and the catastrophe of everyday life. She received her BFA Honours in photography from the University of Manitoba in 2009. Asher’s work has been featured in various publications and shown internationally. Her most recent solo show, Class, was exhibited at Plug In ICA last spring. The installation featured photography, live performance, a 90 minute video, flashing neon, and a peep show. Asher is currently working on Preaching to the Perverted, which will premiere at the Gimli Film Festival next summer.
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