HOME (PENCILS)

The notion of home is complex.  Canada is a country synonymous with majestic landscapes, abundant natural resources and a peaceable population.  Our physical environments, geography, climate and socio-political landscapes shape and define us. Yet, fundamentally, we are all alone with our mind's interpretations and experiences of the physical.  Thoughts and ideas are like countries unto themselves, with cities, buildings, roads, lakes and rivers.  Mapping, locating, explaining and describing these interior phenomena is what connects one individual to another, through shared cultural remembrances, symbols or vows. Home is a series of memories or recollections which begin on a minute scale from childhood and expands exponentially, becoming nuanced by time and distance.  If home begins from infancy and is based in thoughts, then it correlates directly to our first methods of documenting it.  A pencil is a primitive tool, simply made of wood (historically Canada's greatest resource) and graphite.  Pencils inherently imply a series of starts and stops, reflection, consistent repetitions and the act of abrasion. The pencil marks a surface, translates meaning, documents time and records ideas.  A pencil symbolizes a universal ritualistic process in which the potentialities of the individual are related to another.  Start and stop. Reflect. Home is an enigma…