VIRTUAL DIALOGUE
While much of our knowledge of illness is framed through the biomedical context, my work centers affect and the performance of daily life as significant sites of meaning in understanding chronic illness. My current reality, because of the global pandemic, is sitting in front of the computer in online meetings for hours and hours each day. I connect to others through little digital frames while I am simultaneously reflected back in my own window. It’s odd to always see myself mirrored in real time as I speak to others, the technology reflecting my face and its expressions in a more central way than is typical. My now mostly unseen body continues to perform its movements and gestures outside of the space of the screen although every now and then I catch a jarring glimpse of my strange, arthritic hands within the window. Virtual Dialogue frames my body as it situates itself in both a virtual space and a physical one.
Heather Huston
Heather Huston holds an MFA from the University of Alberta and teaches Print Media at the Alberta University of the Arts (formerly ACAD) where she is currently the Chair of the School of Visual Art. She has had several solo exhibitions within Canada and internationally including Dream City, Dreams in Belgrade, and Shift at SNAP Gallery in Edmonton. She has exhibited widely in international group exhibitions that recently include The Okanagan Print Triennial 2018, Print/Pressure Field (Turkey), and the 2018 Pacific States Biennial North American Print Exhibition. Her work is in the collection of over fifteen major institutions including Purdue University Galleries, the Arkansas State University Permanent Collection of Art, and the City of Burnaby Permanent Art Collection.