[-empyre-] It is here now that I have gathered and measured yes.

[Erika DeFreitas]

Hello everyone,


In the summer of 2018 I participated in an artist residency at
Hospitalfield in Arbroath, Scotland. The house I stayed in was beautiful –
the furniture, the rugs, the décor was all grounded in the period. When I
first arrived, I was given permission to walk around the house. There were
rooms, stairwells, turrets, and many, many objects. One room housed small
wooden boxes with drawers that contained rock samples that the owners of
the house collected on their walks. I was drawn to these rocks, but didn’t
think anything of it at the moment because it isn't rare for me to be
pulled to objects in this way.



One of the parameters of this residency is that the work created while
there isn’t site specific; this allows all residents who participate to
create work that is unique and not visually connected to the house. After a
couple of days I was experiencing a sense of discomfort despite the
wonderful company, food, and environment. I knew that there was substance
to this feeling of discomfort that could be explored further by spending
focused time with the objects that I was drawn to. After being given
permission by the person who ran the residency and by the person who
managed the archives, I engaged in a process of sharing space with the
objects to gather more information.



Over the period of a few days, I photographed my handling of these objects.
It was an intense, immersive experience. The feelings and images that came
to me during this experience was documented in written form as an artist
book. It was during this process that I came to the conclusion that the
feeling of discomfort came from an understanding that someone like me, a
racialized person, was never intended to have such intimate interactions
with this space and with the objects that lived there. This came to me as a
deeply felt intuitive account of this energy.


These photographs were included in my exhibition at Gallery TPW, *It is
here now that I have gathered and measured yes.* (2019). The other works in
this exhibition consist of my attempts to capture the aura of objects, my
re-creation of the photograph that documents the proposed ways that Eusapia
Paladino performed her table tipping, as well as a video work that
documents a gesture that produces a visual that often came to mind when
working through this body of work (a gesture that made sense after engaging
in a wonderful discussion with Jennifer Fischer!).


You can view exhibition images here:
http://www.erikadefreitas.com/it-is-now-here-that-i-have-measured-and-gathered-yes-solo-2019.html



You can view the discussion between Jennifer and I here:
http://www.erikadefreitas.com/uploads/6/0/3/0/6030568/gallery_tpw_erikadefreitas_2019.pdf


www.erikadefreitas.com

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Art Gallery at Evergreen: Erika DeFreitas: close magic
<https://evergreenculturalcentre.ca/exhibit/>
CBC On the Coast Interview: Reflecting on Family and Loss Through Art
<https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-46/clip/15824634>
Online Artist Project: Something else is happening and we are reservoirs
(np) <https://www.tofeelclose.com/>
MacLaren Art Centre: Erika DeFreitas: everything she inspires remains,
belongs to light
<https://maclarenart.com/project/everything-she-inspires-remains-belongs-to-light/>
Museum London: RESOLUTION: A Century of Photographic Art
<http://museumlondon.ca/exhibitions/resolution-a-century-of-photographic-art>
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