Jude Abu Zaineh

FORMations
Jude Abu Zaineh
Still images from video: Petri-dish samplings, agar, food, plants, soil
2022
duration 5:15:49

FORMations reflects the natural ecology of food and flora in the region. Sampling the earth, indigenous and collected plant species, and leftover foods, FORMations examines the constant evolution within an ever-shifting cultural and geographical landscape; the petri-dish environment makes visible the invisible by providing a medium of growth for the microbial and bacterial communities that naturally exist within food and our overall surroundings. This enclosed environment gives metaphorical and visual connections to the often ignored or erased narratives and the layered complexities of hybrid existences that many newcomer (human and nonhuman species) experience in their respective, evolving habitats. 

The work gives a visual nod to the artist’s cultural heritage in referencing geometric forms found in South West Asia and North African architecture and Islamic art, while acknowledging the larger landscapes, foods, resources, and diverse ecosystems that make-up Southwest Ontario & region. Also taking additional inspiration from the Southwest Ontario landscape and Ron Benner’s adjacent public garden, As The Crow Flies. 

Commissioned by Museum London for Southwest Seen; a special initiative involving the commission of new digital media works by Calla Moya, Racquel Rowe, and Jude Abu Zaineh; three artists with meaningful connections to Southwestern Ontario. Outdoor-facing projections from the Museum’s large Centre at the Forks windows, overlooking the Deshkan Ziibi (Thames River) will occur during hours of darkness. The works will run during three different time periods from December 2022 through August 2023.

Southwest Seen is developed in partnership with Windsor-Detroit’s acclaimed Media City Film Festival (MCFF), which will also host these media works in 2023. The project involves artistic and curatorial partners including MCFF’s Artistic Director Oona Mosna; the London Ontario Media Arts Association (Christine Negus), and London artists Evond Blake (aka MEDIAH), Anahí González Terán, and Amanda Myers/Kitaay Bizhikikwe.