MONICA BODIRSKY explores histories and stories

>MONICA BODIRSKY: The stories we tell ourselves ...

Opens October 1 2010 7 – 9pm
At Fleishman Gallery from October 1st to 31st 2010



The stories we tell ourselves… is an exhibition of mixed media works inspired by Victorian curiosities and Gothic storytelling. Bodirsky's work explores the process of how narrative enables the collection, destruction and resurrection of memories, experience and identity. By combining encaustic, fibre, pigment, objects, illustrations and photos, in unusual and sometimes spontaneous ways, the stories that unfold are cryptic yet familiar. The layered surfaces provide an archaeology of meaning through purely textural passages intermingled with written text; a marker of language and storytelling. Just as the Gothic novel explores the shadow side of human experience and emotion, so do these visceral combinations offer up the murky complexity of memory, meaning and personal histories.



Monica Bodirsksy is an emerging, multi-disciplinary artist and arts educator based in Toronto. A member of the *new* gallery collective, her works have also been exhibited at The Textile Museum, The Oakville Museum, OCAD Gallery, and the Spadina Public Library.

LEZLI RUBIN-KUNDA performs books

>LEZLI RUBIN-KUNDA: Performing Books

Exhibited at the Fleishman Gallery September 14 to 29 2010


Lezli Rubin-Kunda, a multi-disciplinary artist currently based in Israel presents a group of videos that document book-based performances. In each work, she sets up a dialogue between the written text, and the realities of place and lived experience, intervening through drawing, materials and direct action. Along with the video works, ‘performed’ and ‘altered’ books are displayed in the gallery.

The exhibition takes place in connection with a book-based performance titled Realms of Knowing, taking place at the Hart House Reading Rooms at the University of Toronto on September 25th, and the accompanying exhibition for WIAprojects, at the Centre for Women’s Studies in Education (CWSE) at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) U of T (Sept 27th).

Video Programme:

Topographical Readings, 2007, Drawing over the pages of historical books on Jerusalem, the artist accesses the more primary landscape underlying the conflicted history and myth that cover the land.

The Consolation of Philosophy, 2008, The artist explores the relation between the disembodied truths of philosophical texts to the material world. Spices and foodstuff are rubbed or licked onto the pages, merging the two paradigms of knowledge.

Petal Preservation, 2010, In the artist’s backyard, petals are plucked and pressed between pages of an encyclopedia.

Erase and Dissolve,2010, Truths in texts are accessed only in fragments, over time. Obscured texts are exposed through erasure, or dissolved through rubbing.



Lezli Rubin-Kunda is a multidisciplinary Canadian/Israeli artist, whose site-specific performance work in Israel, Canada and Europe explores intimate connections to spaces and materials. Her performance videos have been widely shown at festivals and symposiums, including Toronto’s 7a*11d International Festival of Performance Art www.lezlirubinkunda.com

ANNIE ONYI CHEUNG explores language, culture and gender in 'Mi'

>ANNIE ONYI CHEUNG: Mi

Installation and video work presented at Fleishman Gallery

October 16th to November 20th, Opening Reception October 16th 7-9pm

Annie Onyi Cheung’s work in time-based and three-dimensional media explores themes of memory, identity, shame and vulnerability, as well as generational and cultural difference. She is drawn to concepts that can be investigated through experiential environments, unravelling imagery and narratives, and bridging gaps between disparate perspectives. Her art manifests as combinations of performance, video and installation.

This emerging artist is a recent graduate of Art History and Studio Art from the University of Toronto. The Fleishman Gallery is very pleased to present her first solo exhibition.
Please visit: www.onyi-ajar.com

The exhibition, Mi, includes a wall-mounted paper grid which documents calligraphy practice of elementary-level traditional Chinese vocabulary and family vernacular, examining each character’s construction and pronunciation. The video component, Untitled (She Me), features a dream-like narrative that is projected as a continuous loop. The video, presented as a triptych, attempts to reveal the various manifestations of femininity that compete within certain social structures such as family, gender and nationality. The video contains no dialogue, instead opting to communicate through a vernacular of gesture to find relationships between tradition, gender and identity. The subtitle, ‘She-Me’ refers both to the phonetic Chinese pronunciation of ‘wash rice’ as well as the self-reflective quality of the video’s world of interiors.

The installation will also be accompanied by a third element, a performance piece to take place during the opening reception. The live performance featuring both the artist and her mother, will further explore the complicated and conflicting notions of femininity and womanhood that influence and inform the artist’s relationships with her mother and with her cultures.