Oz Gallery Event
In February, 2011, Meredith took her art into a gallery space for the first of a planned series of live exhibits. Held at OZ Studios at Queen and Ossington, Toronto, the full-day event combined photography, video projection and live performances.
Black and white images taken several years ago, depicting one of Meredith's recurring characters; the whimsical "Angel of Paradox", hung in the room, while archival video footage from the same shoot was projected on the space above them. A wall of blank canvases invited visitors to leave their own mark, using paint, markers and other materials to create brand new art over the course of the day.
Meredith also made regular appearances in different winged costumes, dancing inside the gallery as well as on the surrounding streets. She performed solo and, at one point brought a second dancer in from the crowd for an impromptu duet. Live, real-time video footage of her pieces were projected on the wall behind her simultaneously.
Throughout the day she followed out on a variety of performance art tasks including popping balloons to reveal fortune cookie-like messages within, and opening her traveling case to offer a mountain of candies to children.
Junkyard dogs don't know obsession,
pushing past repressed aggression,
fencing feet don't make decisions,
looking for the next edition.
Last edition cast aside,
Take a spin, enjoy the ride.
Spinning circles,
dancing squares,
If there's rhythm, who needs pairs?
Alone in life,
a throne in death,
Light a match and write your name with the burning tip,
Paint the world with your presence
Camouflaged Chameleon
Maybe we're both dreaming,
I spy you, you spy me
But do you see what I see?
Pumping with adrenaline
dreaming of what coulda been,
Giving over to the cause,
Fighting back against the boss,
No give over, no give in
No staying stuck or staying pinned,
A rover's what I've always been
This camouflaged chameleon
is sick to death of blending in.
A bullet strike into the night
You always said: "fight the good fight".
Is this even what you had in mind?
I'll do what it takes
to begin what's right.
When you play dead well enough the world goes silent
when you don't listen, the sound goes away
when you lay still, long enough, the people stop walking,
when you mute every mussel, the clouds don't pass
all words written here by Nick Butler
photographs taken by Marilyn Westlake