Opening September 12 in our Project Gallery is Shadow Biosphere!
Sunny Nestler is a multidisciplinary artist who works in drawing, painting, illustration, book-making, new media, and social practice. Their drawing practice studies mechanisms of biological life using a process that mimics DNA replication and mutation; They draw from observation, then repeat forms until they mutate and change. Their subject matter explores the idea of a parallel universe, using invented creatures based on familiar objects and symbols, rendered in brightly-colored mixed media combinations of drawing, painting, and collage. Their past work includes collaborative animation, community-led arts programming, volunteering at artist-run centres, a municipal commission, and facilitating community workshops on topics such as ink-making, zines, consensus decision making, and access needs.
This work is inspired by the idea of the shadow biosphere, a hypothetical ecosystem that exists on earth but that we do not currently have the tools to detect; a world where life forms are not carbon-based but perhaps based on silicon or other material that we don’t yet understand. This realm theoretically exists and evolves alongside us, like a type of parallel universe. There might even be organisms that have components in both worlds simultaneously.
In an extension of this idea of co-existent worlds, several of these pieces reference another type of parallel universe which is personal to Nestler’s diasporic Jewish identity. Here, the shadow biosphere is made up of cultural practices that strive to reconcile a sense of belonging with a detachment from place, celebrating a new ancestral homeland in do’ikayt, which means “hereness” in Yiddish.
There are elements of time-based media (mixed reality and holography) used to express these speculative spaces, where:
Two realities existing in one space ≈ shadow biosphere → mixed reality
One reality existing in two spaces ≈ diasporic particles → holograms
Please join us from 6 - 8pm on Friday September 12th for the opening reception. This special opening includes a live performance by fellow exhibiting artists Kendell Yan, Chris Reed, and Romi Kim; you don’t want to miss this! The opening is free and open to the public, with light snacks and refreshments provided. RSVP here
Sunny Nestler lives on unceded Coast Salish territories, where they are an Assistant Professor at Emily Carr University of Art and Design. Nestler works in drawing, painting, illustration, book-making, new media, and social practice.
Their current projects center ecological concerns in the Salish Sea watershed area, a type of parallel universe called the shadow biosphere, and Yiddish language revival. They are a co-founder of Bike Saviours Bicycle Collective, Tempe Zine Fest, the Vancouver Community Bike Shop Network, and VR Club, which are all spaces that work to make complicated tools and resources more accessible. Nestler exhibits at zine and alternative press fairs and has produced 14 publications under their imprint Megaspora Press.
Nestler is active in community-based organizations, such as the Bike Kitchen at UBC, Discorder Magazine, and UNIT/PITT Society for Art & Critical Awareness, and their practice has been supported by Canada Council and BC Arts Council grants and residencies at Banff Centre.