Give Birth Love Tooth at Nanaimo Art Gallery

Curated by Jesse Birch.

Art Action Earwig was at the Nanaimo Art Gallery April 29 – June 25, 2023, with Give Birth Love Tooth, a multimedia exhibition that expands on autobiographical explorations of teeth as story-bearers. The exhibition featured a 4-channel video installation of story-tellers’ conversations with Art Action Earwig, integrated with animations. The exhibition also featured large print photos, sculptural installations, a video projection with surround sound, interactive displays and an artbook that combines shared stories of family, history, and lands.
Digital Exhibition Booklet includes Lisa Cook Ravensbergen’s writing “The Wisdom of Our Relations” in conversation with the Love Tooth, and collaborators/contributors biographies.

Missed the exhibition or the opening? Read the article “Nanaimo Art Gallery’s new exhibit inspires tooth chatter” written by Mandy Moraes (Nanaimo News Bulletin. May 1, 2023). You will gain some delightful insights!

Video Excerpt of the Exhibition Opening:

Videography by Conor Provenzano
Edited by Wryly Andherson and Minah Lee

Photo by Sean Fenzl. Minah and Wryly stand and smile, looking to their right. They wear white tops and black bottoms and microphones clipped to their heads. In the magenta/pink background, two blue tinted teeth jump out from between Minah and Wryly.
Photo by Sean Fenzl. Minah and Wryly at Give Birth Love Tooth opening reception
Photo by Sean Fenzl. In the center of the image, In the center of the image, Tadafumi, looking down and smiling, holds a tray with glass story-element jars and wooden seed drawers, and a singing bowl. In a wire and crochet tooth suit and head tilted, Wryly stands behind Tadafumi. Right of Tadafumi Minah’s fingers poke through the wire of a wire and crochet tooth suit. Two kids with longish light brown hair interact with the tray. At the right edge and bottom corner is a blurred left shoulder and ear and camera monitor.
Photo by Sean Fenzl. Tadafumi facilitates Interactions at Give Birth Love Tooth exhibition opening performance.

A series of performances and events complemented the exhibition, including:

[Archive] Remembering Families, Futures and Hearts at Bowen Road Cemetery, May 14.

[Archive] Learn To Make Rice Balls And Seed Bombs, June 2.

[Archive] Tooth Full of Wisdom, a performance on Saysutshun, June 11.

On painted red wood, pennies are spread at random. Each penny has an off white soap cast tooth reclining on it.
Soap teeth on pennies at Penny Walk Installation. Photo by Sean Fenzl.

We had the joy of learning to make soap with Heidi Bergstrom at our sponsored Studio H residency in Metchosin BC. We used what we learned to make soap teeth for our Give Birth Love Tooth solo exhibition at Nanaimo Art Gallery. Wryly made molds for soap using Minah’s extracted Wisdom Teeth/ Love Teeth.

We acknowledge the support of Canada Council For the Arts.

canada council for the arts logo
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