This video was commissioned as part of DesignTO’s 2021 Thematic Exhibition Exchange Piece, exploring collaboration as an act of care through an exchange between 10 early career and mid-career artists and designers working in pairs to consider how care in the creative process affects the way we relate and position ourselves to what we create.
The collaboration stemmed from Leigh Dotey and Amy Wong getting to know each other and sharing their lived reality during this difficult time. They zoomed, texted, emailed, sent images, reference points and videos between Philadelphia and Toronto. It was an opportunity to offer mutual support and to affirm an empathic approach as an essential one.
‘Happy Places’ was inspired by the artists’ conversations on care, labour and emotional well being. They began organically developing a collage piece inspired by the call and response format of the mail art movement from the 60s and 70s. The act of collaboration and conversation became an act of care and collaborative learning. The focus was on process as an opportunity to unfold, reflect and become. They sent each other sources of inspiration and snippets of rituals from their daily lives. This resulted in a video piece that incorporated both artists' multi-disciplinary practice. The video and sound work was created by Leigh, incorporating Amy’s paintings and artwork created with her son Rudi.