Currents of Curiosity
Ophir Barzilay
This project is rooted on the traditional ancestral and unceded lands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm(Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh(Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ(Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. These lands and waters have held stories, teachings, and relations for generations, and I hold gratitude for being able to learn, listen, and make here. My work is deeply connected and inspired by the teachings from this land, and the people who inhabit it. I’m honoured to be held by this place and in return, hope my work can contribute to the abundance I feel here.
Currents of Curiosity is a process centred around gestures of listening through conversations with people and material, uplifting and expanding community and self through acts of making.
This journey began with a simple question, “How can I make in a good way, and how can that good ripple outwards into the people around me?”
This work has been a commitment to making in a good way; one that flows with care and responsibility, listening and holding stories in the fibres of each build. It honours the currents and questions that shifted my course and continue to guide me forward.
Each image above is a current of curiosity. Each idea, direction, and exploration informed the next; a continuous dance of finding and unfinding, questioning what could be, what has been, and what will be. Winding and Unwinding. Following each curiosity as far as it led me allowed for free play. This approach allowed me to find answers.
Weaving: repetitive, soft, simple yet complex, a significant craft. Textiles span across oceans. They are a language of hand, of pattern, and of steady movement.
These rhythms – over under, then under over, and repeat – are simple yet very telling.
Weaving landed as the material which held the most connection: a material rooted in fibres working together and conversing together. Connecting our stories through material, object, and place.
I began hosting weekly weaving nights as an invitation to continue conversations between materials and people. Each week we weave, sharing stories, laughing, and holding space together. Each session is an invitation to make and to make again tomorrow.
This kayak frame was gifted to me by a dear friend named John George. This frame was built in 2001 from yellow cedar and fir. The kayak frame is designed based off of the Aleutian style sea kayak called the Baidarka. The design holds knowledge from generations of knowledge keepers who worked with their hands to make vessels which have carried stories and people across oceans. This frame holds their design, their knowledge, and their stories.
This gift was a significant vessel to carry. The lessons and impact of such an incredible frame was daunting to accept. I felt the weight of responsibility. The need to make with and for this weight was undeniable. The inability to shy away from such a huge force was like the incredible force of a current, and, as a sea kayaker, I’ve witnessed the power of these currents. And so I’ve learned to listen. I’ve learned to manoeuvre to stay open-eyed.
This gift instigated many questions, and it demanded to be witnessed. Its scale held opportunity for community to carry the weight, to carry together. This was the way forward that I could see. And so, I hosted, I set the table, and I took responsibility.
The frame was exhibited in a group show called Lulled by the Sea, a collective show between Roxy Luwon and myself. The kayak was placed in the centre of the show, surrounded by creations inspired by ocean. Throughout the exhibit, weaving nights were hosted. The frame became entangled with new stories, and so we began with the story of the frame, all anew. We held its significance together and we shared its weight.
When I look at the kayak now I see conversations. I see the memory held in the fibre of the weave. I see the way people responded to each other. I remember how it felt when the frame moved with the weight of our hands moving together. I remember the laughter and the stories. To you, I thank you for letting me listen.
And so after all of that, finally, I’m ready to make my own frames. To see my impact in the choices of this build.
Through the making I show the lessons I have learned through every encounter. I am in the beginning.
Repetition to make again, to step forwards into another chapter, knowing there will be more.
Each break has been an opportunity to repair.
Each repair has been a story, a lesson, and a connection.
Together we make – again, and again.
Thank you
