Get close to the art while remaining physically distanced. Swing by and meet the artist from the safety of sidewalk in front of the FENTSTER window gallery!
If you are unable to attend, kindly reach out to us in advance to make the spot available to someone else: info@fentster.org
The visceral and captivating photographs featured in the FENTSTER installation Witness were created by artist Ella Cooper’s performance of her inner emotional state, drawing on techniques of Butoh—a Japanese dance practice that she studied during an artist residency in Berlin. There she sought an embodied way to explore the feelings of loss, isolation and displacement evoked by being in a city marked by devastation and Jewish absence. Berlin stirred her formative experiences growing up in Montreal’s Jewish community, being raised within Jewish tradition while feeling outside it. To make these images, the artist stepped out from the tumult of the city into the intimacy of one of the many outdoor photobooths across Berlin. The work – vulnerable and revealing – takes on additional layers of meaning presented in the highly public space of the FENTSTER window and amidst the ongoing pandemic when many of us have passed months in seclusion, forced to face ourselves in unprecedented ways amidst a climate of racial unrest and heightened social inequalities. Refusing to be contained, a world of emotion comes to the surface in these photographs – reverberating with philosopher Emmanuel Lévinas’ assertion that, in its particularity and infinity, the human face “demands justice.” fentster.org/witness
[IMAGE: From the series Self-Portrait by Ella Cooper, exhibited in Witness on view now at FENTSTER]
ELLA COOPER is an award-winning cultural leader, producer, facilitator, photo-video artist, educator and programmer based in Toronto. She has worked in the arts and culture sector for almost 20 years. Her creative work explores the diaspora, the creation of positive representations of the Black body in Canada, equity and arts for social change, community storytelling, contemporary dance and hybrid identity. Cooper is also the founder of Black Women Film! Canada, a collective and leadership initiative supporting the development of Black women filmmakers. She designs and facilitates transformative leadership, anti-oppression and arts empowerment programs for diverse communities, youth and non-profit organizations across Canada, the United States, Europe, the Caribbean and South Africa. Cooper holds a Masters of Education and has served as part time faculty at University of Toronto Scarborough. In addition, she continues to be a featured speaker and guest facilitator for national and international conferences. In 2019, Cooper was nominated for a Mayor’s Arts Cultural Leadership Award, and in 2017 was a Fellow in the Toronto Arts Council's Leaders Lab. Cooper’s work has been presented in galleries, public spaces and festivals in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Amsterdam and Berlin.
Presenting site-specific installations of contemporary art connected to the Jewish experience, FENTSTER (Yiddish for “window”) is an independent, artist-run exhibition space located in the storefront window of Makom: Creative Downtown Judaism. Makom is a diverse, grassroots, downtown Toronto community fusing Jewish tradition and progressive values. FENTSTER projects are on view 24/7. Visitors are requested to maintain physical distancing precautions at all times.
FENTSTER @ Makom, 402 College Street, Toronto, ON M5T 1S8
Presenting site-specific installations of contemporary art connected to the Jewish experience, FENTSTER (Yiddish for "window") is an independent artist-run exhibition space located in the storefront window of the grassroots community Makom: Creative Downtown Judaism.
http://fentster.org/