July 25th 2023 – September 21st 2023, Massy Arts will host, Here I am, in the in-between / In Process, a new show by artists Kyla Gilbert + Otilia Sabina.

Kyla Gilbert’s practice begins in chance meetings with found objects, which she modifies in juxtaposition with industrial materials. She balances disparate parts, finding connections and holding space for contradictions. Forces act on her sculptures in unexpected ways. Sections that appear bulbous and heavy are incredibly light, materials sag in a state of gentle, if not perfect, support. Each piece is caught in a moment of expansion and maturation and contains all the clumsiness inherent in transformation, like a gangly teenager. Both Kyla’s process and the pieces themselves rely on mutual support, in all its ungainly, joyful awkwardness and vulnerability. In offering attention to her environment and working from what’s around her, she’s able to create physical compositions that celebrate difference and allow it to flourish.

Otilia Sabina’s work explores the use of memory, as a vehicle to the formation of personal identity, values and beliefs. In this series of works, Otilia uses collage and digital media to create new visual artifacts which center on the transitory feelings of stories from both her life before and after immigrating to Canada in 1998. Through an iterative process of collage and digital manipulation her practice aims to bridge both the familiar and unfamiliar aspects of her history.

Otilia and Kyla share an interest in fragmentation and assemblage in relation to a personal experience of geography. Both are currently working and living on the unceded, ancestral, and occupied, traditional lands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Skwxwú7mesh and Səl̓ílwətaʔ Nations of the Coast Salish peoples, also known as Vancouver.

This project is supported by the Community Arts Council of Vancouver + First Peoples’ Cultural Council.

The Massy Arts Gallery is located at 23 East Pender Street in Chinatown, Vancouver.
The gallery is open Wednesday to Sunday, 12pm to 5pm.
Entrance is free, and masks are mandatory.

To contact the gallery, send an email to: info@massyarts.com.

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The Artist

Kyla Gilbert is a visual artist based out of Vancouver BC on the unceded territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. She graduated with a BFA in performance from Concordia University in 2017 and spent the two subsequent years touring as a puppeteer with DJ Kid Koala. Her current practice revolves around intuitive encounter with materials. As a former puppeteer and performer, she approaches her process as a site for improvisation that results in the creation of objects full of discrepancy, juxtaposition, awkwardness, and joy. Kyla completed my MFA in Studio Art from Emily Carr University in spring of 2022.

Otilia Sabina (she/her) is an interdisciplinary visual artist and designer born in Bucharest, Romania and raised on the unceded, ancestral, and occupied, traditional lands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Skwxwú7mesh and Səl̓ílwətaʔ Nations of the Coast Salish peoples, also known as Vancouver. She holds a BFA from Emily Carr University of Art + Design (2013). Otilia Sabina’s collage work re-contextualizes images and digital media to create new visual artifacts inspired by stories from both my life before and after immigrating to Canada.

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