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Chapter 35: Interview with Marigold Santos
Chapter 35: Interview with Marigold Santos
ratings:
Length:
2 minutes
Released:
Feb 28, 2023
Format:
Podcast episode
Description
This chapter features an interview with artist Marigold Santos. It is two and a half minutes long.
Hi Marigold, what is the inspiration or story behind your work in Drawing on Our History?
The works in this exhibition come from various moments in my practice from the last 5 years or so. They range in material and application, from works on paper to ceramics, paintings, and includes my tattoo practice, which is another form of mark making and drawing for me. This particular collection of works reflect on, and speak of, the body, embodiment of experience, self-hood, empowerment, and diaspora. The imagery consists of figures reconfigured from folklore, objects pulled from sensorial memories like touch, taste, and smell, and textures and patterns that come from my heritage and the landscape of my childhood.
Why do you choose to use Tagalog in some of the titles of your work?
My family immigrated to Canada in the late 80’s and I was just a child. I spoke Tagalog and did not understand English. We learned how to speak English very quickly, but my siblings and I stopped speaking our mother tongue in and outside of the home from that point on. Even though I can understand it quite fluently, I have difficulty in speaking it. Titling my work in Tagalog is a way for me to return to and honor my mother tongue in fragments. It is also a way for my work to reach folks who do understand Tagalog, and to create entry points into the work for them.
Why are you drawn towards being an artist?
Making art for me, has always been about communicating something – whether it is communicating something I am curious about, asking questions of, researching, or experimenting with, communicating is the undercurrent for me. I communicate through my work, and I think through my work. I also transform and evolve as a person through my work. My art practice is a way for me to continue to critically ask questions and make joy.
Go to the next chapter to hear the curatorial label for Santos’s work.
Hi Marigold, what is the inspiration or story behind your work in Drawing on Our History?
The works in this exhibition come from various moments in my practice from the last 5 years or so. They range in material and application, from works on paper to ceramics, paintings, and includes my tattoo practice, which is another form of mark making and drawing for me. This particular collection of works reflect on, and speak of, the body, embodiment of experience, self-hood, empowerment, and diaspora. The imagery consists of figures reconfigured from folklore, objects pulled from sensorial memories like touch, taste, and smell, and textures and patterns that come from my heritage and the landscape of my childhood.
Why do you choose to use Tagalog in some of the titles of your work?
My family immigrated to Canada in the late 80’s and I was just a child. I spoke Tagalog and did not understand English. We learned how to speak English very quickly, but my siblings and I stopped speaking our mother tongue in and outside of the home from that point on. Even though I can understand it quite fluently, I have difficulty in speaking it. Titling my work in Tagalog is a way for me to return to and honor my mother tongue in fragments. It is also a way for my work to reach folks who do understand Tagalog, and to create entry points into the work for them.
Why are you drawn towards being an artist?
Making art for me, has always been about communicating something – whether it is communicating something I am curious about, asking questions of, researching, or experimenting with, communicating is the undercurrent for me. I communicate through my work, and I think through my work. I also transform and evolve as a person through my work. My art practice is a way for me to continue to critically ask questions and make joy.
Go to the next chapter to hear the curatorial label for Santos’s work.
Released:
Feb 28, 2023
Format:
Podcast episode
Titles in the series (39)
Chapter 18: "Man with Snowmobile": This chapter describes Man with Snowmobile by Kananginak Pootoogook, created in 2006, and measuring 51 by 67 cm. There is a tactile version of this drawing. It is labeled “2.” This chapter is one and a half minutes long. This work depicts an Inuk man standing just behind his bright red snowmobile. The fur-lined hood of his white atigi, or parka, is pulled up around his face. There are bands of orange, blue and dark green trim on the bottom of his sleeves and hem. His matching pants and blue tinted sunglasses complete the outfit. Pootogook has included many details of the snowmobile, from the various components of the green outboard motor on the back to the gears of the track. The details stand out even more because the artist hasn’t included a background, just the white paper: we can focus on the cold and shiny red chrome, the smell of gasoline, how the fur trim would feel against our faces. Perhaps the background evokes the white tundra. Along the b by CUAG Audio Description Tour for Drawing on Our History