Portraits of An Imagined Past

The Portraits of An Imagined Past explores individual ancestry, identity and memory through the making and performing of a series of “living portraits.” Participants/artists investigated their personal histories, identified a person of interest from their past, and then researched this person to embody them in the present. They use imagination, interpretation and memory as tools to reconstruct the lives and stories of their family members, and in this process reveal their own perspective of who they are, set against the backdrops of their histories.

Concept and Project Leader: Sean Frey
In collaboration with the Community Arts Guild

Lead Artists: Sonja Rainey (design and lead), Beth Helmers (performance and lead), Sharada Eswar (story telling and performance). Arber Makri (painting and building).

Assisting Artists: Thomas Truman John, Andrea Thring, Bill Livingston, Molly McGregor, Dave McNiven

Sulogini S. as Sothynathan, her husband

P. Parameswary as  Sinnappusubramainiam, her father 1951

Yasmeen Safawi as her mother, Adawia Aziz

Afroza Parvin as Anwara Begum, her mother, 1968

Pathma M. as Radnam Thiagarajah, her mother, 1954

Karis Jones-Pard as Joan Phillip, her grandmother, 1969

Komathy Sarah as Subramaniam Arumugam, her grandfather, 1942

Waving Goodbye

Here is a Super 8mm film that I created with Sonja Rainey, Alexandra Draghici and Leah Houston. Produced by MABELLEarts, this film features the seniors from Mabelle Ave, saying goodbye to past lands, people and loves. Music by Gene Austin and Marion Harris.

Jumblies Theatre's Like an Old Tale

Here are some photos taken by Katherine Fleitas of my projections and design work on Jumblies Theatre's Like an Old Tale.
(Artistic director and head designer - Ruth Howard, Lighting - Trevor Schwellnus, projections - Sean Frey)

Live painting on opera singer, Doug MacNaughton, using overhead projector.

Creating guidance from the moon with Neema Bickersteth.

Sonja Rainey and I turn Doug into a spider.

Glowing sea monsters move through the stars.

King Leontes's madness spreads on overheads - live painting by Helah Cooper, Melanie Brennan and Sonja Rainey.

summer foliage

Into The Fall

Here is a super 8 film, made with Jumblies Theatre about going into the dream. Music by Yann Tierson and Elfin Saddle, 2011.

A Light in Midwinter

Here is a movie that I made with MABELLEarts, Winter 2010-11. This film chronicles the experiments with outdoor bread baking in Mabelle Park, a park situated at the heart of a high-density Toronto community housing complex in central Etobicoke. Produced by Leah Houston and MABELLEarts. Music by Elfin Saddle.