*Main image: lotion for yuh constitution. 2023. black walnut, wenge wood, hair, raku lid and all-spice salve. Photo credit: Michaela Bridgemohan.
What does it mean to belong, adapt and make a home in the place you live?
While some may immediately have an answer in your mind, for people who exist between racial identities, finding a conclusion can prove more elusive. This is the jumping-off point that artist Michaela Bridgemohan starts from in her latest Fort Gallery exhibition, soot stain on the pillowcase, opening on October 13 at Swallowfield Farm. Presented in a modernist barn in rural Langley that sometimes hosts contemporary art exhibitions, the makeshift art space makes for an ideal location for a show about feeling a sense of otherness.
While pursuing her questions about race and identity living in BC, Bridgemohan engages in an Afro-diasporic dialogue that needs to be more prevalent in Metro Vancouver. We champion inclusivity and diversity in the public forum, and these strides are critical. Still, for people who don’t directly associate with one culture, it can sometimes feel like they’re standing in a blind spot of this progress.
Right: domino (1-0). 2022. black walnut wood. Photo credit: Michaela Bridgemohan
The immersive exhibition presents a domestic space in the loft of the barn- private quarters that seem to also act as a gestation area for Bridgemohan’s thoughts on the subject. Hanging from the ceiling, indigo-dyed mosquito nets create small pods for visitors to sit within and watch moon phases on ceiling-mounted monitors. The nets create an intimate space for reflection as you sit on the floor gazing upwards. This sense of being in-between, looking outward, underlines Bridgemohan’s characterization of the diasporic existence. That nebulous sense of location is emphasized by the remaining traces that suggest someone had just vacated these spots- a hair left behind, a soot stain, an imprint on a pillow. It’s as if our entering has caused someone else to be pushed out. It creates a fitting feeling of displacement, as nearby, Fort Langley still identifies as the “birthplace of BC” despite the history of Indigenous people being vacated before this founding.
Walking through curtains made of hair, sitting within the netting, smelling the nearby salves whose scents fill the room- visiting soot stain on the pillowcase conjures hazy images of a looming spectre. You can’t quite make it out, but you know there’s something there. It’s this uncertain terrain of sensation that Bridgemohan invites us into. We feel the elusive echoes from past generations, that hopefully, as we continue to make strides collectively, will come more into focus.
Swallowfield Farm: 7296 Telegraph Trail, Langley
From Surrey Central Station, take the #501 Langley Centre bus to Langley Centre, transfer to the #562 Walnut Grove via TWU bus and exit at 96 Ave and Glover Road. From there, you’ll likely have to take a cab or an Uber a little bit further- it’s not too far though!
