Migration

Brass, wool, hair, silk, silver, feather, cotton, blended yarns.

In Migration, Olivia Ball examines the five-year migratory map of one lesser black-backed gull through sculptures, tapestries, and jewellery. As these works explore the bird’s paths and the traces it left behind, they simultaneously reflect the artist’s experience with a mood disorder.

Lesser black-backed gulls are migratory, and some breed in colonies in northern England, where Ball first encountered their bones and began the research that yielded this body of work. Migratory routes and the effects of a mood disorder both vary but are both often cyclical, and both are affected by internal and external factors such as experience and environment.

Using the negative space of wirework sculpture, the softness of woven textiles, muted colour palettes, matte or unfinished metal forms, and the mindful interaction between jewellery and the body, Ball prompts us to consider how we choose our paths—whether we choose them—and how they differ.

Text by Sarah Kernohan, Curator, Open Sesame, Kitchener ON