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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:18.0pt">Laura Magnusson<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:18.0pt">I was Wearing Golden Clamshell Earrings<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">University of Waterloo Art Gallery<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">January 12-March 4, 2023<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Opening Reception: Thursday January 12, 5-8 pm<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><img width="711" height="400" style="width:7.4062in;height:4.1666in" id="Picture_x0020_4" src="cid:image001.jpg@01D9212A.6B910730"></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>I was Wearing Golden Clamshell Earrings</i> is the impact statement I was not permitted to give before the law. In 2013, I was sexually assaulted. The perpetrator was tried in the Court of Queen’s Bench and was acquitted of all charges.
Throughout the legal process––from issuing a police statement, to undergoing a forensic examination, to testifying before the law––I was required to compartmentalize my experiences, my very self, over and over and over to provide particular information on
and in particular terms. The pursuit of factual truth actively excluded my felt, embodied knowledge. The crime scene was my very body, yet I was viewed as a witness, one among many, and according to the presiding judge, “not credible.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Collectively, the works in this exhibition––video, installation, sculpture, drawing, and archival materials––testify to my lived experiences and their felt reverberations over time. A series of drawings produced in court, one for every
minute of the perpetrator’s testimony, records my embodied response at a time when I was not permitted to speak. A silent video shot underwater, 70-feet beneath the surface, sees me wander an endless ocean bottom as I bear witness to the complex nature of
trauma and the ongoing process of healing. Clam imagery recurs throughout the show––from shells and growth rings to implications of dredges and dissections––forging connections between gender-based and ecological violences as I explore the limits of forensic,
evidentiary pursuits of knowledge.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Material language can communicate on multiple registers and in ways that are not possible through spoken and written language alone. Making across artistic media has enabled me to speak from and through my body, reclaiming agency over the
representation of my own story, working toward a more integrated, whole account. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The artist acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Laura Magnusson</b> is a Canadian interdisciplinary artist and filmmaker based in Montreal, Quebec (Tiohtià:ke/). Magnusson’s current research-creation explores and elucidates felt experiences of trauma through installation, sculpture,
drawing, performance, and video. She is a trained scuba diver who has filmed underwater in Iceland and Mexico, using the medium water as a site for healing and reconnecting to the body. Magnusson holds an MFA in Interdisciplinary Art from the University of
Michigan (2019), and is currently pursuing a PhD in Interdisciplinary Humanities at Concordia University, funded by a Doctoral Scholarship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>ADMIT EVERYONE<br>
</b>University of Waterloo Art Gallery<br>
East Campus Hall, Room 1239<br>
519.888.4567 ext. 33575<br>
<a href="https://uwag.uwaterloo.ca/" title="https://uwag.uwaterloo.ca/">Website</a><br>
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/uwag.waterloo/" title="https://www.facebook.com/uwag.waterloo/">Facebook</a><br>
<a href="https://www.instagram.com/uwartgallery/" title="https://www.instagram.com/uwartgallery/">Instagram</a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>CONTACT<br>
</b>Ivan Jurakic, Director/Curator<br>
519.888.4567 ext. 46741<br>
<a href="mailto:ijurakic@uwaterloo.ca" title="mailto:ijurakic@uwaterloo.ca">ijurakic@uwaterloo.ca</a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>HOURS<br>
</b>Wednesday to Friday 12-5 pm<br>
Or by appointment</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>MOBILITY<br>
</b>Ground floor entry<br>
Automated doors available at Fine Arts entrance<br>
Wide pathways<br>
Accessible washrooms on ground level</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>DRIVING<br>
</b>263 Phillip Street, Waterloo<br>
East Campus Hall (ECH) is located adjacent to Engineering 6 (E6)<br>
Campus <a href="https://uwaterloo.ca/map/" title="https://uwaterloo.ca/map/">map</a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>PARKING<br>
</b>Visitor Parking is available in Lot B beside Engineering 6 (E6) for a flat rate of $5<br>
Campus <a href="https://uwaterloo.ca/map/" title="https://uwaterloo.ca/map/">map</a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>MAILING<br>
</b>University of Waterloo Art Gallery<br>
200 University Avenue West<br>
Waterloo, ON, Canada N2L 3G1</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><img border="0" width="190" height="60" style="width:1.9791in;height:.625in" id="Picture_x0020_3" src="cid:image002.jpg@01D9212A.6B910730" alt="University of Waterloo Art Gallery logo"></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10.5pt;color:#7F7F7F">Image Credit:</span></b><span style="font-size:10.5pt;color:#7F7F7F"> Laura Magnusson,
<i>Blue</i>, single-channel video, 12 min, 2019. Cinematography by Liquid Motion Film. Image courtesy of the artist.
<b>Image Description:</b> A woman wearing a hooded parka with an oxygen tank and breathing apparatus lays partially buried in sand under the water.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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