ANTI-META

Kiralyst Cover Concert: Virtual Immersion is a virtual concert experience incorporating the use of an anime-inspired aesthetic. The project contains a virtual rendition of myself performing and song covers using the popular Vocaloid software and style.

KCC is an intersection between three of the primary forces that drive my work and creative practice: Video Games, Anime, and Music. The project utilizes each of these three forces, combining my love for each of them into one uniform experiential piece. 

The main visual component draws inspiration from virtual anime concerts such as those done by and through Vocaloid and Hololive, with an anime aesthetic. This is done through the use of anime-styled characters, scenery, and an anime-inspired setlist composed of popular songs within the Vocaloid community. 

As much of the experience around concerts is impacted by first-hand engagement, an element of the experience is lost when strictly viewed on a screen or monitor. KCC circumvents this through the utilization of an HTC Vive as a means to immerse the participant. A personal virtual reality space creates a way to achieve that feeling. It truly makes the participant feel as though they are experiencing a concert in person and lending itself to the participatory nature of the medium. 

Ideally, this work would be experienced in the comfort of one’s home using an HTC Vive with headphones to keep them properly immersed during the whole experience. There are other ways to experience this without VR such as keyboard and mouse but are less immersive. Throughout the past couple of years, Anime has become much more mainstream in the entertainment market and KCC seeks to spread my love for this medium to a wider range of people.

As a child, I remember a friend asking me where I imagined forgotten thoughts went. The unconscious mind has intrigued me ever since. “Yesterday” is a new media installation that brings to life people’s earliest memories through 3D printed dioramas. It presents stories from different parts of the world as the narrator explores themes of nostalgia, time-travel & homesickness. This project also performs an orchestrated interplay between psychology and storytelling. I don’t want people to remember my art solely for what they see, I want them to remember how it made them feel. Who you were, are, and will become depends on the lived stories you have stitched for yourself - what is the earliest one you remember? Perhaps, to recreate is to relive.

“So I get this call from maybe 12538 kilometers away asking me an out of the blue question. What is your earliest memory? What looks like a simple, straight-forward question turns out to be quite a struggle. But after much thinking, I’m now clear that my earliest memory is going with my father for probably my first movie in a cinema hall. The year is 1969, and I am 6 years old. The movie hall’s name is Anjalee, which by a strange coincidence will be my wife’s name 21 years later. The movie is the iconic Mackenna Gold starring Gregory Peck, Omar Sharif, and Julie Newmar. You can imagine the effect the movie would have had on a 6-year-old watching every scene and listening to every line of dialogue as if his life depended on it. That final climactic scene when the entire mountainside comes crashing down, and the gold for which the cast of actors and villains are searching for is lost forever - is a scene I can picturize to his day. Although going to a movie hall has become a rarity, the few times in a year that I do go to it transports me back to that very first cinematic experience - one of thrills and spills, magic and mystery.”

As a child, I remember a friend asking me where I imagined forgotten thoughts went. The unconscious mind has intrigued me ever since. “Yesterday” is a new media installation that brings to life people’s earliest memories through 3D printed dioramas. It presents stories from different parts of the world as the narrator explores themes of nostalgia, time-travel & homesickness. This project also performs an orchestrated interplay between psychology and storytelling. I don’t want people to remember my art solely for what they see, I want them to remember how it made them feel. Who you were, are, and will become depends on the lived stories you have stitched for yourself - what is the earliest one you remember? Perhaps, to recreate is to relive.

“Growing up, cars were a significant part of my childhood. Being able to recognize cars far away based on what their headlights and taillights looked like and screaming HUMMER every time one passed by was something I was good at. So, quite obviously, one of the earliest memories I have is of dad buying his first car. A 2001 Toyota Corolla. I’m about 3 years old at this point, and probably the most excited kid around - running up and down the showroom. Some of the other cars I can remember in the showroom were the 2001 Toyota Echo, the RAV-4, and the Landcruiser. I had my eyes on all of them. We, unfortunately, could not afford all and settled on a beautiful greyish-silver Corolla in the end. The warehouse, from what I remember, looked like an airplane hangar more than anything else. We all got into the car - I was sitting on top of my cousin’s lap with my head bumped up against the roof of the car while we waited and took our sweet time. The time finally came to drive up the sweet, middle-class Corolla engine. We had the car for about 14 years before dad had to finally sell it. Dad maintained it way too perfectly, and that is no exaggeration - something I hope I can do with my first car.”

REVERSED CHAMELEON is an interchangeable clothing line created to facilitate and empower those who choose to wear it. Fashion is known for being a medium for self-expression; RC plans on taking this to a whole new level. From stick-on letters to dry-erase boards, REVERSED CHAMELEON's goal is to allow its user to adapt their garment for every occasion. We as humans are constantly changing; therefore, our clothes should too. Every piece in this collection can be modified to better suit its user's surroundings and emotions. Similar to a chameleon, but instead of blending in, you'll stand out. Post pandemic, after spending all this time in isolation, the last thing we want to do is have to go home and change. With RC, you can turn on the lights of your shirt in the Uber to the after-party, or you draw a new pattern on your dress to better fit whatever your following location might be. Overall, REVERSED CHAMELEON offers you the materials to create endless amounts of looks and is easily adaptable to your constantly changing style. The brand is currently only on Instagram, but I plan to bring it on to other social media platforms and eventually launch a website. All of this in the hopes of attracting our 15-25 age demographic. The beauty of art, in my opinion, has always been the way it starts a conversation. Wearing REVERSED CHAMELEON will most definitely spark one no matter how many feet apart.

https://cpassosdesigns.wixsite.com/my-site

REVERSE CHAMELEON is an interchangeable clothing line created to facilitate and empower those who choose to wear it. Fashion is known for being a medium for self-expression; RC plans on taking this to a whole new level. From stick-on letters to dry-erase boards, REVERSE CHAMELEON's goal is to allow its user to adapt their garment for every occasion. We as humans are constantly changing; therefore, our clothes should too. Every piece in this collection can be modified to better suit its user's surroundings and emotions. Similar to a chameleon, but instead of blending in, you'll stand out. Post pandemic, after spending all this time in isolation, the last thing we want to do is have to go home and change. With RC, you can turn on the lights of your shirt in the Uber to the after-party, or you draw a new pattern on your dress to better fit whatever your following location might be. Overall, REVERSE CHAMELEON offers you the materials to create endless amounts of looks and is easily adaptable to your constantly changing style. The brand is currently only on Instagram, but I plan to bring it on to other social media platforms and eventually launch a website. All of this in the hopes of attracting our 15-25 age demographic. The beauty of art, in my opinion, has always been the way it starts a conversation. Wearing REVERSE CHAMELEON will most definitely spark one no matter how many feet apart.

https://cpassosdesigns.wixsite.com/my-site

REVERSE CHAMELEON is an interchangeable clothing line created to facilitate and empower those who choose to wear it. Fashion is known for being a medium for self-expression; RC plans on taking this to a whole new level. From stick-on letters to dry-erase boards, REVERSE CHAMELEON's goal is to allow its user to adapt their garment for every occasion. We as humans are constantly changing; therefore, our clothes should too. Every piece in this collection can be modified to better suit its user's surroundings and emotions. Similar to a chameleon, but instead of blending in, you'll stand out. Post pandemic, after spending all this time in isolation, the last thing we want to do is have to go home and change. With RC, you can turn on the lights of your shirt in the Uber to the after-party, or you draw a new pattern on your dress to better fit whatever your following location might be. Overall, REVERSE CHAMELEON offers you the materials to create endless amounts of looks and is easily adaptable to your constantly changing style. The brand is currently only on Instagram, but I plan to bring it on to other social media platforms and eventually launch a website. All of this in the hopes of attracting our 15-25 age demographic. The beauty of art, in my opinion, has always been the way it starts a conversation. Wearing REVERSE CHAMELEON will most definitely spark one no matter how many feet apart.

https://cpassosdesigns.wixsite.com/my-site

MUTT rugs is a collection of textile artworks that explore the intimacy of domestic objects and rituals. The rugs aim to commemorate the aesthetics of objects that contribute to messes in our most private spaces. Intentionally designed to resemble a pile of laundry and designed to remain one’s floor for years to come, these rugs ask us to reconsider what elements are unwelcome in our space as opposed to those that are desired. MUTT rugs are abstractions of human flaws turned decorative, skeptical of the harsh lines we draw between mess and sculpture; between curated chaos and ornamental design.

https://www.nataliekorac.work/

MUTT rugs is a collection of textile artworks that explore the intimacy of domestic objects and rituals. The rugs aim to commemorate the aesthetics of objects that contribute to messes in our most private spaces. Intentionally designed to resemble a pile of laundry and designed to remain one’s floor for years to come, these rugs ask us to reconsider what elements are unwelcome in our space as opposed to those that are desired. MUTT rugs are abstractions of human flaws turned decorative, skeptical of the harsh lines we draw between mess and sculpture; between curated chaos and ornamental design.

https://www.nataliekorac.work/

As a child, I remember a friend asking me where I imagined forgotten thoughts went. The unconscious mind has intrigued me ever since. “Yesterday” is a new media installation that brings to life people’s earliest memories through 3D printed dioramas. It presents stories from different parts of the world as the narrator explores themes of nostalgia, time-travel & homesickness. This project also performs an orchestrated interplay between psychology and storytelling. I don’t want people to remember my art solely for what they see, I want them to remember how it made them feel. Who you were, are, and will become depends on the lived stories you have stitched for yourself - what is the earliest one you remember? Perhaps, to recreate is to relive.

“So I don’t have a ton of vivid memories from when I was a little kid. But the earliest one I do remember is from October 6th, 2000 when I was about 2 years old. It’s the day my sister was born! Now, I don’t actually remember her being born - that’s not what’s vivid in my memory. She was born at home in my parent’s bedroom. My only memory of that day is me and my brother being put in our attic and given all of our Winnie the Pooh VHS tapes. That was very special for me because we never really got to watch a lot of TV, and watching a movie was a special occasion. So being left alone to just go through our whole collection of Winnie the Pooh and the whole Hundred-Acre Wood was special. For some reason, that has stuck with me - that image of me and my brother in our attic just cycling through them on our little tube TV while my sister was being brought into this world one floor below.”

I’ve been pronouncing my last name wrong. I pronounce it wrong knowing I can pronounce it right. I feel guilty about this. I am not alone in suffering from these confusing thoughts. 

The other members of my family struggled and still to this day, have difficulties adjusting to life in Canada. All of us are collectively trying to figure out how to exist in this space together and as individuals. It has been a journey. My life as a Punjabi immigrant has been made easy by my selfless parents. My sister and I are the children of survivors. 

13 Lauraglen Crescent, Brampton is inspired by the experiences of immigration. This is the address of the first basement apartment my family resided in when we moved to Canada 15 years ago. This piece explores ideas of tension, resilience, and fragility with the use of physical computing, fabric, and steel wire.

ICFWYWM (I Can’t Focus When You’re Watching Me) is an interactive time-based drawing installation. It consists of a two axis drawing plotter driven by an Arduino microcontroller. A continuous sheet of paper is fed from a box, through the machine, and off the other end. 

This piece explores themes of observation, interference and the unavoidable influence of the audience. While unobserved, the machine completes a repetitive task of drawing rows of squares across a continuous feed of printer paper. This is interrupted when it senses it is being observed - when the livestream website is accessed, and alters its movements permanently. The more someone interferes, observes and participates, the more it diverges from its original task. As more viewers observe the machine, even its unobserved task - drawing squares - is affected, distorting them into increasingly irregular shapes. In this interaction, the machine and the observer become collaborators, a relationship rooted in conflict. It is important to note that the audience will never see the machine completing it’s intended task, only it’s response to being observed. 

ICFWYWM is a piece that cannot exist without observation, and yet it begs to be left alone. I think this paradoxical feeling of wanting attention but not wanting to be seen is innately human. The inner conflict of authenticity is interrupted by our desire to connect with and be valued by others. This is why art void of outside influence is a fallacy. Despite constantly being sought after, authenticity and originality in art is impossible to achieve because it demands an audience. The influence of the audience is integral in shaping both the art and the artist. Without it, we’re left with boring rows of squares on a piece of paper.

instagram.com/devlindfm/

Content Warning: this piece explores mental health and lived experiences with Borderline Personality Disorder

Irreplaceable Me is a multi-channel, multimedia, and autobiographical piece that addresses the dissonance between trauma and emotional intellect. Irreplaceable Me aims to represent my emotions. Using a combination of animation, digital, sound, and post-processed techniques to captivate my embodied experience represented through Borderline Personality Disorder. The narrative travels through snippets of my reflections in moments of beauty and pain through nonlinear sound and visual compositions in a memory-like, stream of consciousness style. Beginning in contemplation, the piece turns to carnival futility, leaving me in the midst of existential nihilism and the unlikelihood of a new beginning. As I go through medication changes and severe emotional pain, I find myself alone, displaced between thoughts and reality. Caught between finding meaning in the present moment and the utter meaninglessness of life, I express a universal relationship of paradoxical conflict and chaos reflected in the subjectivity of my mind.

Somehow I find myself trapped in an uncomfortable paradox: my ambitions ignite by extraordinary goals, but everything I know of myself takes me back to reality. I inadvertently get consumed by unwelcome and disturbing thoughts, engulfed in fear and distress. 

Freudian Slip is an augmented reality diary that tells my story through a series of colorful yet unsettling illustrations. These drawings reveal my internal struggles and subconscious feelings. Beyond the visible gaze, there is a world of untold imaginations and the unknown. I want to use the irrational juxtaposition of images to confront the darkness in my mind. I hope to understand, process, and embrace my insecurities. 

The exploration of the subconscious realm evokes and inspires. I have reconciled with my shadow. Most importantly, I have learned a little more about myself.

Confession Forty Thousand is a six-foot by six-foot piece that contains roughly forty thousand words, handwritten in black ink onto a sheet of paper. These words are a collection of my deepest and most personal thoughts, with never the same thought written twice. They appear clear at the edges and become more difficult to read as they converge at the center. These words formulate a pattern that shows no definitive beginning and endpoint. Viewing from afar will display a more collective image, while up close the individual words can be read. This piece exists in a physical form as proof of my thoughts as they transition into reality. As these thoughts are unique to me, so is the handwriting. My penmanship creates a distinctive bond between myself and my words, a simultaneous confession and penance. This manual practice connects the strain from the quantity of writing to the pain of the punishment I feel I deserve.

I wanted to reverse the roles of introductions and have the first impressions of me be based on my truest self, not the self that I ordinarily display. Here, people can assess me based on how much time they spend indulging in the work; to know me better than those closest to me or to not know me at all.

Confession Forty Thousand is a six-foot by six-foot piece that contains roughly forty thousand words, handwritten in black ink onto a sheet of paper. These words are a collection of my deepest and most personal thoughts, with never the same thought written twice. They appear clear at the edges and become more difficult to read as they converge at the center. These words formulate a pattern that shows no definitive beginning and endpoint. Viewing from afar will display a more collective image, while up close the individual words can be read. This piece exists in a physical form as proof of my thoughts as they transition into reality. As these thoughts are unique to me, so is the handwriting. My penmanship creates a distinctive bond between myself and my words, a simultaneous confession and penance. This manual practice connects the strain from the quantity of writing to the pain of the punishment I feel I deserve.

I wanted to reverse the roles of introductions and have the first impressions of me be based on my truest self, not the self that I ordinarily display. Here, people can assess me based on how much time they spend indulging in the work; to know me better than those closest to me or to not know me at all.

Confession Forty Thousand is a six-foot by six-foot piece that contains roughly forty thousand words, handwritten in black ink onto a sheet of paper. These words are a collection of my deepest and most personal thoughts, with never the same thought written twice. They appear clear at the edges and become more difficult to read as they converge at the center. These words formulate a pattern that shows no definitive beginning and endpoint. Viewing from afar will display a more collective image, while up close the individual words can be read. This piece exists in a physical form as proof of my thoughts as they transition into reality. As these thoughts are unique to me, so is the handwriting. My penmanship creates a distinctive bond between myself and my words, a simultaneous confession and penance. This manual practice connects the strain from the quantity of writing to the pain of the punishment I feel I deserve.

I wanted to reverse the roles of introductions and have the first impressions of me be based on my truest self, not the self that I ordinarily display. Here, people can assess me based on how much time they spend indulging in the work; to know me better than those closest to me or to not know me at all.

UNLOCK is a hybrid adventure webcomic/film. It’s a web-based platform that consists of a mixture of graphics, sounds, and animation videos. The visuals appear as the user scrolls down on the web platform. The project inspirations are from numerous comic books, animation films, and visual interactive storytelling websites. UNLOCK uses the combination of animation, audio, coding, and words as a unique way to experience a story. 

UNLOCK follows the adventures of a girl who wakes in an unknown dimension with a mysterious bracelet on her wrist. To unlock the bracelet, the girl needs to solve all of the riddles that the bracelet presents. Throughout the adventure, the girl will unlock answers that will help her figure out who she is. 

UNLOCK explores the themes of discovery and overcoming obstacles. It addresses how life is a difficult puzzle to solve. Only you can place all of the pieces together. Throughout life, there are different pathways to experience. Some paths are easy to figure out while other paths are difficult to go through. It takes time and patience to figure out which pathway to take. Just like a puzzle, life has numerous pieces to put together to find what you are looking for. Overall, UNLOCK explores how life involves overcoming obstacles to discover who you are.

https://cr99studios.wixsite.com/portfolio

How does the past define you? What drives people to fight each other? How can we deal with the existential emptiness that comes with loss? 
Living amidst the ruins of a fallen world, humanity lives on. Few remember what everything was like before the great Calamity, and even fewer remember who they truly are. Kuko, determined to find vengeance and an explanation, ventures out to discover the secrets that lie in the world after stumbling upon Blorbus, a small peculiar creature with the powers to control time. 
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When creating Project: Time, the basis of our development was to bring a world to life together for others to experience. The world became our foundation where the addition of lore dictated types of characters to be added, abilities to be established, environments to be explored, and more. To represent these ideas, we chose to go with a minimalistic, hand drawn art style that gives our game a distinguishable aesthetic and allows us to produce our game within our time restraints. In engaging the player, we designed our combat to make the player grow in skill and abilities side by side with the main characters. This came from our desire to make this experience reflect what games have been to us, which were a means to immerse ourselves in a separate world to overcome challenges and expand our imaginations. Furthermore, exploring through the lens of a new world helps qualify abstract human thoughts like identity, morality, and loss.

‘Life of Node” centres on a robot named Node(they/them) who has three friends; Vector(he/him) and Mini(she/her). There are topics such as social media awareness, teamwork, and how to treat others. Using a website, I am able to take my content and get my audience to look at my content in a certain order so that my audience can understand the characters. I decided to introduce the characters one by one throughout the series. Through the life of Node, people are able to learn about being inclusive. The purpose of this is to make this very light hearted but also take away important lessons. When it comes to educating others on mental health and wellbeing, I wanted to reflect on that in a light hearted away attracting a wide audience. I also wanted to represent an imperfect friendship. I feel that the media shows friendships look very fabricated and perfect. Node and their friends are far from the perfect group but they try to understand and help each other. I incorporated humour as well. Node also has a pet cat named cat who keeps on stealing things. I expanded the platform onto Tiktok and Instagram to reach a wider audience which worked effectively. The series is a continuous series so there will be a new episode released every week. The reason why I am doing stop motion which is more traditional is because it makes objects feel real and it is a unique way of storytelling. With stop motion, I am able to express humour, empathy, curiosity, sadness, and happiness. It is also a very tangible and flexible art form.

Under The Sea is a time based, audio visual installation that addresses the juxtaposition between underground dance culture (rave culture) and fine art. The main focus of the piece is the visual language of rave culture, new and old. It is illustrated through the use of LED lighting, and ensuing colours, animations, motion, and sound that is congruent to the culture that it is mimicking. 

The piece is a Bauhaus inspired LED installation, resembling the iconic square design of a Mondrian painting while brandishing its own sculptural design. The piece flashes to the beat of dance music which is atypical of a standard sculpture. The audience is intended to think about what instances such visuals might exist, which in this case is the rave. They might think about what it means to be in a rave with no people, or with the incongruent energy of a gallery. The lights and sound symbolize the rave setting, and serve to immerse the audience through the visual and sonic language of the culture. The delivery of the lights are more visually interesting than a normal rave setting due to the Bauhaus inspired pattern. Rave venues tend to favour function over form to spotlight the embodied experience. My project seeks to remove that embodied experience of a rave and insert it into a space that it “doesn’t belong,” while flipping the delivery on its head. 

Under The Sea is an audio visual installation with a focus on LED lighting as its main form of discussion. The motion and animation of light in tandem with music is what conveys the theme of a rave in a gallery setting. Sitting in its lonesome within the gallery, the lights and sound will emanate from the installation, getting the viewer to think about the bodiless rave. Rave has a negative connotation, often pertaining to illegal warehouses and drug usage. This installation seeks to strip the culture down into what I believe are the most important elements; the lights and sound.

Both tracks are my own. The first is titled “Sunfish,” and the second “Under The sea.”

To see this work performed in real time, join us at 7pm by clicking the link above or by entering the portal at the centre of the pavilion to be transported! 

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This project is art in its most abstract form: an exploration of meaning as a tool to calculate what lies behind human connection and empathy. When meaning is used as a tool to quantify an experience there is suddenly an opportunity to learn and to be connected with something beyond the self. It is a project that attempts to make sense of what is obvious but cannot be explained. 

The Artificial Empathy Machine is an interactive multimedia installation that listens to speech through a microphone and generates an audio-visual output based on the words spoken to it. The audience speaks to a microphone hooked up to a computer, which then converts the words to text via a speech-to-text API library. The machine, in parallel, analyzes their emotional content by running each word through a dictionary API and cross-referencing the results with the needs and feelings inventory as is according to the Centre For Nonviolent Communication. Based on this emotional evaluation, the machine then selects a film clip from a curated database coercing the audience to create a conversation as they both evaluate each other's emotional needs. 

Empathy is the single most fascinating aspect of human behavior -- it is the reason why people can agree and disagree, it is the pillar of society, of understanding and compassion. Without empathy, there is no meaningful connection created and therefore no art to be experienced. I explore humanity across a variety of media and look for the hidden algorithms of empathy in daily life. It is a constant exploration of the effects of human connection and lack thereof. My art is autobiographical in the sense that it documents what I see in life and what I take away from it and builds upon that understanding. 

The ability to communicate should not be taken for granted. There are complex rules that determine whether or not an individual will be heard and understood. In order to create meaningful connections, we must establish an understanding of the barriers that prevent empathy from happening. Thus, it is important to be able to assess the needs of every party involved in a moment of communication. Social structures, no matter how complex, can be broken down to a series of components and instructions that our brains (powerful biochemical computers) interpret and assess in order to determine the next course of action for each individual. If algorithms of empathy can be deconstructed and reused, then it is possible to create artificial empathy to forge meaningful connections between human and art. 

This is the governing principle of my work.

My project, “Holliyuk”, is a video installation. The project addresses the white privilege and lack of Asian representation in Hollywood. I grew up watching old Hollywood films that had characters in yellowface, and now it hasn’t changed much as ‘Asian’ roles are given to white actors/actresses. My art envisions a technoculture future for Asians that highlights past injustices but mainly looks forward to advancing Asian art, culture, and excellence. Using “Ghost in the Shell”, I’ve masked Scarlett Johansson in one scene with nine Asian actresses. The clips start with Scarlett Johansson, but it rewinds each time to reveal an Asian woman. The setup is an empty room with nine phones stuck to a wall, emulating a movie theatre. The videos start at different times so the audience can look at each actress properly. 

Presenting my project with video art relates to the beginnings of the medium as it expands the potential of the individual creative voice and challenges the constraints of traditional mediums of fine art. I could have just photoshopped images, but that doesn’t add anything new to the conversation surrounding Asian Representation. 

This work has evolved from mocking Hollywood’s ignorance to highlighting how different Asian stories are, no matter how hard we imagine ourselves in those roles filled by white actors. We can put on a Western mask to perfectly blend in, but we shouldn’t have to. We should put on Eastern masks that bring luck and hope. Having a perfect deepfake feels like lies and trickery like we’re trying to hide. It’s the opposite of what I want this project to say; we don’t want to blend in perfectly and hide behind a mask. Asian representation shouldn’t feel fraudulent and like we’re selling ourselves out by moulding ourselves as the perfect Asian to fit roles. 

My project contributes to Asian representation and imagines that we are beyond begging for roles in the big Hollywood film. It skips the conventional and makes something of your own. Imagine your own stories and identities within the space of your own creativity, not what you think Hollywood would do. Change comes with stepping out of the boundaries and going against conventionality.

“Honey, I’m home” is a phrase that refers to the moment when someone returns home after a day at work. Traditionally, these words are spoken by a man to his wife often who is putting dinner on the table just as he walks through the door. This interactive web story consists of a collection of fictional narratives that explore manifestations of inequality that multiply over time to produce the gender wage gap. Pulling from current Ontario-based statistics and world-wide trends, the story situates the reader to experience the realities of being a woman working in a variety of creative fields by spotlighting the sexist perceptions and decisions that they face in the workforce. Moments of exclusion from reward and recognition, lack of creative credit, sexual harassment, unequal opportunities to grow in their respective fields and other systemic factors are encountered by the viewer to further demonstrate that the gender wage-gap is about much more than the numbers on a paycheque.

Set out to invite immersion in the underlying dynamics that produce the gender wage gap, Honey, I’m Home is a narrative made by a young woman who wonders, at what point in her life will she experience these inevitable moments of inequality herself.

Through my practice, I seek to to make sense of the fundamental desires and motivations that humans collectively gravitate towards. Concerned with the ephemerality of our existence, I am interested in piecing together the thoughts and actions that are unique to the human experience. As a result, my work is rooted in themes of human behavior, memory, perception of time, and materialism. 

Pre-Pottery Neolithic: VR is an educational, virtual-reality experience that allows users to explore a virtual recreation of what a small Neolithic settlement from 11,000 years ago might have looked like. Experienced with the Oculus Go, Pre-Pottery Neolithic: VR provides the opportunity to navigate through an audio-rich diorama of an ancient civilization rebuilt to life-like scale, and infused with interactable “points of interest” that explain how our ancestors thrived in the prehistoric world. 

The frozen-in-time nature of Pre-Pottery Neolithic: VR evokes the feeling of visiting a museum, a setting in which visitors are temporarily extracted from chronological time and given a zoomed-out perspective of our mark in the universe. From an abstracted point of view, we can look back onto ourselves and consider how much of our lives have and have not changed, for better or for worse. When you try Pre-Pottery Neolithic: VR, my hope is that, in learning about how we once came together to survive our past, you might stop to also consider if it is possible for us to come together to survive the future as well.

nathaniellam.artstation.com

MUTT rugs is a collection of textile artworks that explore the intimacy of domestic objects and rituals. The rugs aim to commemorate the aesthetics of objects that contribute to messes in our most private spaces. Intentionally designed to resemble a pile of laundry and designed to remain one’s floor for years to come, these rugs ask us to reconsider what elements are unwelcome in our space as opposed to those that are desired. MUTT rugs are abstractions of human flaws turned decorative, skeptical of the harsh lines we draw between mess and sculpture; between curated chaos and ornamental design.

https://www.nataliekorac.work/

MUTT rugs is a collection of textile artworks that explore the intimacy of domestic objects and rituals. The rugs aim to commemorate the aesthetics of objects that contribute to messes in our most private spaces. Intentionally designed to resemble a pile of laundry and designed to remain one’s floor for years to come, these rugs ask us to reconsider what elements are unwelcome in our space as opposed to those that are desired. MUTT rugs are abstractions of human flaws turned decorative, skeptical of the harsh lines we draw between mess and sculpture; between curated chaos and ornamental design.

https://www.nataliekorac.work/

New Normal is a performance/video installation that uses projection on my body and face to portray the essence of technology, consciousness, manipulation and evolution. While it is futuristic, it is also nostalgic, consisting of videos of my childhood memories and the world in future. There is no sense of time present in this piece as the video goes back and forth between the past, present and future; the lack of dialogue leaves it up to the audience to decide the timeline based on their perception and experience. I sit passively throughout the performance while the video is displayed on the eye-screen covering my eyes, showcasing how helpless the human body can be when technology is in power.

My thesis titled “We all Suffer, Plant and Human” exists as a dual project which has avirtual version, and a physical version. The physical version is a simulated gallery space thatexists to show what my thesis would have looked like if the pandemic were nonexistent. Thevirtual version exists so everyone can experience my thesis with the constraints of the pandemic.Both versions feature a plant diary that takes place from October 21st, 2020 to December 11th, 2020. The diary entries follow the care process for a low maintenance plant, which are three cacti and a high maintenance plant, which is a miniature rose bush. The diary entries contain pictures of the plants and an audio component that narrates some of the entries. My thesis is exploring awareness around invisible disability and chronic illness, more specifically the progressive chronic illness and invisible disability called Cystic Fibrosis (CF). The miniature rose bush embodies the lungs of someone with CF which requires a lot of care, attention, and maintenance just like the roses. The cacti embody the lungs of a healthy individual because they do not require nearly the same about of maintenance and do not often live within your conscious mind. 

When I was younger my lungs were a lot healthier just like the cacti but, as I got older, I became a lot like the rose bush which is what the narrated audio component is set out to illustrate. My thesis deals with two main ideas. This first is that you never know what someone with suffering with even if their outward appearance might not display it. The second is illness  has the potential to plague any of us at any given moment, so it is valuable to learn to appreciate the mundane aspects of life. Your life can start out like the cacti, healthy, but then turn into the rose bush, which eventually becomes sick. You must also understand that the people around you, strangers, family, or friends, might be like rose bush. Their outward appearance is beautiful, but they might require a lot of care for them to live day to day and you might not even know it. Because of this, you must be patient with them and learn that their life is just as valuable as yours, with different accommodations. When you finish viewing my work, I hope that you can leave feeling like you have had a personal conversation with me about my invisible disability and chronic illness, CF. Hopefully you can apply what you have learned to your day-to-day life.

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Even though I created “Ahab” without a specific narrative in mind, somehow, during its development, it cultivated its own identity. From the project’s outset and throughout it’s conceptual and compositional phases, I had no intentions or vision for where the project was going or what I wanted it to explore. There was never a desire to create any deliberate theming or story building, but over time, through the process of structuring and curating the songs, a meta narrative emerged; inadvertently and subconsciously. It was only after I completed all seven songs that I realized the existence of this narrative and what it was, despite my constant intent for the project to be interpreted by the listener however they pleased. In the end, ​“Ahab”, a megalithic white whale, mirrored my raw emotions — a frantic search for purpose, meaning, and voice — through its melancholic tones, modular and granular heartbeats, and digital body. It culminated in an epic spanning 22 minutes that went fathoms deeper than even I expected.

REVERSE CHAMELEON is an interchangeable clothing line created to facilitate and empower those who choose to wear it. Fashion is known for being a medium for self-expression; RC plans on taking this to a whole new level. From stick-on letters to dry-erase boards, REVERSE CHAMELEON's goal is to allow its user to adapt their garment for every occasion. We as humans are constantly changing; therefore, our clothes should too. Every piece in this collection can be modified to better suit its user's surroundings and emotions. Similar to a chameleon, but instead of blending in, you'll stand out. Post pandemic, after spending all this time in isolation, the last thing we want to do is have to go home and change. With RC, you can turn on the lights of your shirt in the Uber to the after-party, or you draw a new pattern on your dress to better fit whatever your following location might be. Overall, REVERSE CHAMELEON offers you the materials to create endless amounts of looks and is easily adaptable to your constantly changing style. The brand is currently only on Instagram, but I plan to bring it on to other social media platforms and eventually launch a website. All of this in the hopes of attracting our 15-25 age demographic. The beauty of art, in my opinion, has always been the way it starts a conversation. Wearing REVERSE CHAMELEON will most definitely spark one no matter how many feet apart.


https://cpassosdesigns.wixsite.com/my-site

Demands haven’t been met, promises haven’t been kept.

Hong Kong used to be a place that was well known for having peaceful protests. This all changed within the mass protests that occurred from 2019-2020. Mirroring Hong Kong is a documentary that features those who have been impacted by the Hong Kong protests regarding the extradition bill as the founding cause. 

The interviewees involved in the documentary have been affected by the protest. Some of them are even fleeing Hong Kong to live in Toronto for hopes of a better future. The narrative of the interviewees speaks upon their personal experiences with being silenced by the government, and views on the political situation in Hong Kong; referring to the protestors, government and police force.

The documentary portrays how the everyday lives of citizens in Hong Kong had been disrupted by the unethical protests, the police and the government. Yet, the people of Hong Kong have still found a way to push through and live their everyday lives.

We chose to present our documentary through project mapping on eight pieces of blank paper, representing the slogan of the protest: “光復香港,時代革命”, meaning "Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times". We chose to project map our documentary on 8 pieces of blank paper, representing the slogan that was banned after the National Security Law was established.

We feel compelled to create this documentary because we are native Hong Kongers. We are angry, frustrated and devastated to see our home destroyed, and our voices neglected. Despite the National Security Law attempting to keep us quiet, we aim to spread awareness and create noise around the subject matter.

Demands haven’t been met, promises haven’t been kept.

Hong Kong used to be a place that was well known for having peaceful protests. This all changed within the mass protests that occurred from 2019-2020. Mirroring Hong Kong is a documentary that features those who have been impacted by the Hong Kong protests regarding the extradition bill as the founding cause. 

The interviewees involved in the documentary have been affected by the protest. Some of them are even fleeing Hong Kong to live in Toronto for hopes of a better future. The narrative of the interviewees speaks upon their personal experiences with being silenced by the government, and views on the political situation in Hong Kong; referring to the protestors, government and police force.

The documentary portrays how the everyday lives of citizens in Hong Kong had been disrupted by the unethical protests, the police and the government. Yet, the people of Hong Kong have still found a way to push through and live their everyday lives.

We chose to present our documentary through project mapping on eight pieces of blank paper, representing the slogan of the protest: “光復香港,時代革命”, meaning "Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times". We chose to project map our documentary on 8 pieces of blank paper, representing the slogan that was banned after the National Security Law was established.

We feel compelled to create this documentary because we are native Hong Kongers. We are angry, frustrated and devastated to see our home destroyed, and our voices neglected. Despite the National Security Law attempting to keep us quiet, we aim to spread awareness and create noise around the subject matter.

Demands haven’t been met, promises haven’t been kept.

Hong Kong used to be a place that was well known for having peaceful protests. This all changed within the mass protests that occurred from 2019-2020. Mirroring Hong Kong is a documentary that features those who have been impacted by the Hong Kong protests regarding the extradition bill as the founding cause. 

The interviewees involved in the documentary have been affected by the protest. Some of them are even fleeing Hong Kong to live in Toronto for hopes of a better future. The narrative of the interviewees speaks upon their personal experiences with being silenced by the government, and views on the political situation in Hong Kong; referring to the protestors, government and police force.

The documentary portrays how the everyday lives of citizens in Hong Kong had been disrupted by the unethical protests, the police and the government. Yet, the people of Hong Kong have still found a way to push through and live their everyday lives.

We chose to present our documentary through project mapping on eight pieces of blank paper, representing the slogan of the protest: “光復香港,時代革命”, meaning "Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times". We chose to project map our documentary on 8 pieces of blank paper, representing the slogan that was banned after the National Security Law was established.

We feel compelled to create this documentary because we are native Hong Kongers. We are angry, frustrated and devastated to see our home destroyed, and our voices neglected. Despite the National Security Law attempting to keep us quiet, we aim to spread awareness and create noise around the subject matter.

Demands haven’t been met, promises haven’t been kept.

Hong Kong used to be a place that was well known for having peaceful protests. This all changed within the mass protests that occurred from 2019-2020. Mirroring Hong Kong is a documentary that features those who have been impacted by the Hong Kong protests regarding the extradition bill as the founding cause. 

The interviewees involved in the documentary have been affected by the protest. Some of them are even fleeing Hong Kong to live in Toronto for hopes of a better future. The narrative of the interviewees speaks upon their personal experiences with being silenced by the government, and views on the political situation in Hong Kong; referring to the protestors, government and police force.

The documentary portrays how the everyday lives of citizens in Hong Kong had been disrupted by the unethical protests, the police and the government. Yet, the people of Hong Kong have still found a way to push through and live their everyday lives.

We chose to present our documentary through project mapping on eight pieces of blank paper, representing the slogan of the protest: “光復香港,時代革命”, meaning "Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times". We chose to project map our documentary on 8 pieces of blank paper, representing the slogan that was banned after the National Security Law was established.

We feel compelled to create this documentary because we are native Hong Kongers. We are angry, frustrated and devastated to see our home destroyed, and our voices neglected. Despite the National Security Law attempting to keep us quiet, we aim to spread awareness and create noise around the subject matter.