Call for Sackville and Surrounding Area:
My name is Sheilah ReStack — I am a queer artist raised in Nova Scotia (alumni of Mt. Allison :) and currently living in Columbus, Ohio. I teach at Denison University and am on leave for the semester to be artist in residence at Mt. Allison Purdy Crawford Center for the Arts.
I am working on the Archive of Queer Embrace, a long-term project gathering portraits of queer touch, and placing them into public space. It is important to me that the community itself from here be the ones who are infiltrating this space.
To this end, I am looking for queer/gay / lesbian/ nonbinary folks in the area (and anyone who can get to Sackville) who would be willing to have their photogram* portrait taken in the darkroom at Mt. Allison over the next month, with someone/something they love.
I grew up in rural Nova Scotia, and I have long been interested in how to articulate and make visible rural, queer experience and existence. I would (ultimately) like to have these images infiltrate public space in some way, and there is support from the town of Sackville for that to occur. You can always choose to participate in the photogram and then decide not to present the image in public.
I would like to invite to join me in the darkroom at Mount Allison to make a photogram. The time commitment is about ½ hour with your partner(s), people and/or objects you love. Please reach out with any questions.
*(A photogram is a camera-less photographic technique that creates a direct print by shining enlarger light onto objects (or people, in this case). Participants will be provided with 8.5 x 11 prints of the images.
Please contact me to book at slot: sheilahrestack@gmail.com or T. 614 531 7553
Julie Rae and Celina, Archive of Queer Embrace, 2023.