Congratulations to the 2021 winner of the Impressions residency: artist Ahreum Lee. , has announced This residency, offered by the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA), in collaboration with the Conseil des arts de Montréal (CAM), enables a visual artist from Montreal’s cultural communities to carry out a research-creation project that sheds a unique, contemporary perspective on the Museum’s collections.
Seoul native Ahreum Lee is a multidisciplinary artist and musician who has lived in Montreal since 2016. She holds a degree in Media Art from Kaywon University of Art & Design, and a Master of Fine Art – Studio Art (Intermedia) from Concordia University. Her work explores the permeability of the borders between the real world and virtual environments. Through computer-generated images, Web-sourced images, performance, sculpture and video, the artist examines how the power dynamics embedded in our everyday technologies influences our emotions and our view of reality.
During the eight-week residency, Lee will select representations of the mother figure from the Museum’s African, Asian and European art collections with the support of the MMFA Conservation team. Based on the average of the pixel values of the images, she will model a 3D maternal icon that will be integrated into a holographic installation. This project is the natural continuation of her series “My Mother is a Data”, inspired by her own mother from whom she has been separated since the age of 10.
“The MMFA wants to increase opportunities for intercultural dialogue and to become more open to new artistic fields such as digital art and Web art. The Impressions residency helps to amplify the voice of emerging artists who, each in their own way, reflect the wealth of our diversity. Following Karen Tam, Naghmeh Sharifi, Pansee Atta, Ari Bayuaji, Jobena Petonoquot, Leila Zelli and Nayla Dabaji, we are pleased to welcome Ahreum Lee to the Museum and to support her in the realization of her project,” notes Mary-Dailey Desmarais, Chief Curator of the MMFA and member of the jury.
“Each year since 2013, the Impressions residency has asked visual artists to submit a new project proposal that entails a fresh look at the MMFA’s collections. It is a special experience fostering human and artistic dialogue as well as a creative impetus that enables artists from diverse backgrounds to enrich us with their vision and to deepen our understanding of the world. Impressions contributes to the development of an accessible, inclusive and equitable culture in Montreal’s artistic landscape, an initiative that is in line with our mission and which we are particularly proud to support,” adds Nathalie Maillé, Executive Director of the Conseil des arts de Montréal.
The Impressions residency
Impressions is aimed at professional artists with core training whose abilities have been recognized by their peers. During the residency, the artists receive a salary while researching and devoting themselves primarily to practising their art. With the financial participation of the MMFA and the CAM, the artist in residence receives a $7,000 grant. The artist in residence is selected each year by an ad hoc jury.
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