In Construction and under Development

Situated within a Library vitrine, Where was I then, Where am I now?  consists of a personal archival file titled “Waterloo and other missing moments.” Anchored by a rejection letter from the Undergraduate Urban Planning program at the University of Waterloo, the file focuses on rejected photographic materials that include faulty film, shifted prints, miscalculations, pre-exposures, over-exposures, under-exposures, poor colour balancing, and cross-contamination. The file presents the process of learning as one of attempts and mistakes made that are the result of material stubbornness, unforeseen circumstances, and an inability to adapt.

The installation also references the obsessive personal impulse to collect, organize, and dwell on the past. The use of the archive and the placement of this file within the library, propose that personal experience can be a formal record to be filed, made visible, and reflected upon. As a personal collection of ‘failures’ in a public, institutional space, Where was I then, Where am I now? also questions the process of education and learning.

Where was I then, Where am I now? was exhibited in Photographic Installations, an Exhibition 2015, held at the Emily Carr University Library in Vancouver, BC.