Nurgül Rodriguez

CAAF Residency, September – October 2020

My projects focus on narratives, walls, borders and boundaries. For me, borders and/or border zones are bureaucratic actions rather than physical means since I have been living in a globalized society and on the Treaty 7 land which is the traditional territories of the people of the Treaty 7 region in Southern Alberta; the City of Calgary is also home to Métis Nation of Alberta, Region III. A current and responsible approach to social and political art makes me generate fundamental questions such as: How can my work and studio practice aesthetically expose and engage in the conflict underlying human migration? How does my art work reflect permanent borders between nations? Moreover, how do I incorporate and engage with the materials that connect me to this land or place to find a sense of belonging, to feel grounded in a specific place in my creative practices?

My studio practice involves a diverse range of materials and processes. I use porcelain clay body, text and digital image making to create social and political thoughts within installation art and conceptual art. By using the text-based artwork, my narrative became not only about immigrants or replaced individuals but also about displaced individuals including refugees, exiles, and travellers who have experienced the processes and procedures in a new country and culture in multicultural context in Canada. I explore how the power of language can form and shape the immigrant individuals and diasporic bodies. The intent is to invite an audience who are/not themselves migrants or a member of a diaspora and reflect their experience and its political contextualization through experiencing materials of art works in a gallery space and/or institutional environment.

We acknowledge the generous support of the Province of Alberta through Alberta Foundation for the Arts, and of Calgary Arts Development.