Secret Selfies: Recent Episodes
xost
Secret Selfies emerged from a commission project hosted by Dustin Harvey and Sarah Moore between 2014-2016 and produced by XOST. The appeal of selfies comes from their association with social networking. We intend to entice strangers deeper into the world of an ‘other,’ helping us find ways to forge kinder and gentler methods of inhibiting social space. XOST develops projects that speak both to us and others about the beauty found in a shared experience. Please enjoy.
An essay about self-portraits. Welcome to season three.
Michael is an artist based in Musquodoboit Harbour, Nova Scotia.
My past artistic work has primarily been poetry and essays, as well as collaborative sculptural installations. The underlying principle of these works was an attempt to create art that is hospitable. Two years ago my partner was killed, and since then my work has been shaped instead by grief. This has taken the form of various rituals, and the collecting of sacred objects, in addition to writing. I would like to create an audio selfie that investigates the connections between ritual and loss. What is the texture of repetition, what accumulates in an attempt to reconcile ourselves to absence?
Ben is a poet living in Halifax.
How can we cultivate selflessness in what we create? Is the act of creating inherently an act of selfishness? Is everything we make secretly a selfie of some kind? If selfies are our own perspectives on ourselves, does it become an incubator or an echo chamber? How can we create work that moves our world forward, that connects to other people and provides some sort of opportunity for change? How do we make something personal that reaches out, work that is true to ourselves without becoming self-indulgent?
Colleen is an Albertan-born artist now based in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
I would like to explore the dichotomy of self and other, the tension between connection and separation. I'm interested in the concept of union, beyond its basic definitions. What drives us towards it and what keeps us apart? Why are we taking so many selfies in the first place? Does it have anything to do with an innate desire—or need— to dissolve barriers of self and others and realize a state of the union. I think it does. But in our awkward attempts to be witnessed how are we missing the mark, reinforcing separation and the loneliness that ensues.
Tanya is a singer-songwriter and poet, based in Halifax.
I’m excited to explore the limitless possibilities of sound. As a dance artist, I focus on movement and the visual world. To dive into sonic waters is exciting and intriguing. What will come out of it? Who knows! That’s what excites me the most.
Susanne is the Co-Artistic Director of Mocean Dance in Halifax.
I have had a long-time interest in what our voices can betray us. How we change it to get what we need and how it changes involuntarily as our emotions shift and change. When my first child was born, I swore to be aware and careful with my voice and now that that child is 3, I am at times pleased, and at other times appalled at the sound of my voice in relation to her. In this residency, I explored the joy and shame of how I relate vocally to my children, and to create a piece that captures our complex and amazing relationships.
Sue is a performer and Co-Artistic Director of Zuppa Theatre Co. who was elected to the Nova Scotia House of Assembly in 2017.
Open waters: As a performance and installation artist, my interest in audio is about asking questions about who we are as a culture. Storytelling and dialogue are compelling as I consider the character and seek out ways to explore interior/intangible environments: I believe that I am who I am because of those around me.
Stephanie is a multidisciplinary artist and general maker of things based in K'jipuktuk / Halifax, NS.
Play asks you to play. Just play. It is somewhere between an instructional monologue and an inspirational monologue for the flamboyant musician within you. It puts into direct conflict actions of play and the social/behavioural superego in each of us that polices experiences of liberation.
Patrick is an artist living in Vancouver.
Ridin’ is an experimental sound // noise recording that explores an alternative narration and voice for myself as a drummer. The bed track for the sound piece was sourced through recorded drum practices, that became distorted and accentuated with additional dialogue, beats, sound samples, acting as emotional, present responses that were felt and found throughout the residency period.
Lisa Lipton is a visual artist, musician, director and educator currently living in Calgary.
Hair. Here. My Hair. My head. An invitation. A saga. A texture. A wisp of hair. A hair’s whisper. The sound of a curl. Curled sound. Exploring the head. Heading in. Intimacy.
Veronica is a media artist and radio producer living in Toronto
For more information: xosecret.org
Listening is a creative act. A way of witnessing. With iWitness, I was curious if the listener would conjure an image of me when guided to a deep place within themselves.
Lindsay lives and works in Kjipuktuk in Mi'kma'ki, the ancestral and unceded territory of Lnu’k (Mi’kmaq)
For more information: xosecret.org
It starts with a name, and it grows from there. Can you know me through the voices of my family—my Maman, my Papa, my Mamère, and me?
Jacinte is a dancer maker, and MFA student living in Halifax, Nova Scotia
For more information: xosecret.org
I invited random strangers to flip through the pages of my notebooks and read an excerpt out loud if they were so inclined. What began as an experiment in transparency quickly turned into a crash course in public performance and engagement.
Andrew is a poet and organizer and lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
For more information: xosecret.org
Close your eyes, lean in, and listen: How does audio enhance the intimacy of storytelling? How are the stories we tell tangled with the confessional, omissions, with whispers, deep truths and white lies? When we take a selfie—tell a (true) story— where does fact end, and invention/imagination begin? And, does it really matter?
Thea Fitz-James is a theatre maker and academic living in Toronto.
For more information: xosecret.org