Lissa Robinson

Ida's Secrets

Front Gallery

November 4 - December 18, 1999

Lecture: November 4, 7 pm

Mass Hysteria
A secret elicits a desire to uncover the truth. The implication of something hidden appeals to our sense of curiosity and sense of adventure. We begin a journey, a process of discovery, by searching for clues... In Lissa Robinson's installation Ida's Secrets, our first clue is a pile of larvae-like objects heaped on the floor. This visceral debris, symptoms of dis-ease, is evidence of obsessive activity. Their vast numbers invoke the endless needs of the body, like desire and hunger; thus, we have no way of knowing how many or how many more there will be. The illusion of a writhing mass is unnerving as is the creator's compulsive, almost hysterical obsession. Incubating in these forms are evocations of the wonders, secrets, and secretions of the physical body, as well as a celebration of emotional, intuitive expression.

The second clue to Ida's Secrets is an object protruding from the wall. Also visceral, it is smooth, twisted and flesh-like, with a large frontal opening that invites the viewer to peer inside. To do so one succumbs to curiosity and perhaps confronts a fear and loathing of bodily openings. A channel extends deep inside, far beyond the limits of the object. A light, emanating from within, is cast upon our dark expectation of the repulsive, transcending our mundane familiarity with the body.

In a society where technology dominates, we are continually alienated from both our bodies and from the desire to examine and re-define our perceptions and behaviour. For example, the hysteria evident in Lissa's work continues to be considered inappropriate behaviour: hysteria, with its connotations of insanity, stupidity, and depravity is completely counterproductive. The pervasive myths surrounding hysteria and other emotional responses have been absorbed into the rhetoric of technology, simultaneously promoting the rational while deepening our misunderstanding of the non-rational. And what consequence does this have for our natural responses, especially since hysteria is considered a female affliction? When our bodies, fears and desires are used as tools to sell products, perhaps hysteria is a reaction to such misrepresentation. When deprived of the ability to respond, perhaps it is a potent articulation of our innermost state.

Ida's Secrets reaffirms the need to examine closely, to experience what lies beneath the surface. These objects (and all objects really) are not benign; they are vessels of insight, they are reflections of ourselves and our desires. They are simply in a state of dormancy, awaiting awakening.

Dionne McAffee

Dionne McAffee is an artist, arts administrator and sometimes writer living in Toronto. She graduated from the Alberta College of Art and Design in 1995 and currently works at the Edward Day Gallery.

Image: Lissa Robinson
Ida's Secrets (detail)
photo: Brad Uphill