Feb 13 – Mar 9, 2025
Opening Reception: Saturday, February 15th, 2pm – 4pm
Into to Blackout Poetry Workshop (free): Tuesday, February 18th, 2pm – 4pm
By special invitation In Joe’s Lounge
TZADDI GORDON | Found In the Thick of It (mixed media)
After spending many years constrained by the demands of caregiving for her husband with early-onset dementia, Tzaddi Gordon sought ways to make art in the cracks; to wedge a few moments of creativity into days that felt less and less like her own. One of these ways is working in the genre of found poetry. Using vintage books as her source Gordon creates new meaning from outmoded or dogmatic text and imagery through a process of redacting, cutting, or rearranging text, the act of removing and rewriting pages echoing the memory changes she has witnessed in her husband. Some poems explore her grief and frustration, allowing access to emotions that must be hidden in the thick of caregiving. Others are reminders that humour or joy can be found almost anywhere. And sometimes, Gordon lives vicariously through the characters, exploring what life can be like when we get to choose our own narratives.
Tzaddi Gordon is a local artist who has exhibited her work on the Sunshine Coast and in Vancouver. She is a graduate of the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design in sculpture & ceramics, and holds an online publishing certificate from UBC Continuing Studies. She has worked as an instructor in art workshops for both kids and adults, and was a co-founding board member of the Dynamo Arts Association in Vancouver.