amy alice thompson

Poetry can repair no loss, but it defies the space which separates. And it does this by its continual labour of reassembling what has been scattered.

John Berger

The work from Parse began in 2016 for an exhibition at Central Art Garage (Ottawa, ON). Small fragments – often the cast offs of other works – have been assembled into glassine envelopes to create enigmatic, intimate compartments or phrases. The simplicity and limited components of these pieces likens them to the Japanese haiku. These pieces depict the essence of the haiku form, which is the art of cutting.

Like the haiku cut from fragments of language, these landscapes are cut and carved into being. These pieces exalt the discarded, the parts of the land that have eroded and been washed away. Much like our internal dialogue, we are made up of these personal fragments and discarded moments. The envelopes let us examine the fragments that shape our consciousness. And like our personal shifting landscapes, these pieces allude to the possibility of change and re-contextualization.

I would like to thank the City of Ottawa for financial assistance in the creation of some of the work in this section.