Artist brings art and music to Kazoo! Fest 2014
Toronto-based artist Alexandra Mackenzie’s creative vision seemingly knows no bounds, and her work – including incredibly detailed and imaginative illustrations, lush installations, and experimental yet danceable music – often employs a maximalist aesthetic to form a stimulating, vibrant, incredibly surreal world that’s equal parts immersive and elusive. Mackenzie will be hosting a solo art exhibition, “Promised Land,” at Ed Video from April 9to 30, and performing (under her alter ego and solo music project Petra Glynt) at eBar on Friday April 11 (along with DIANA, Manatee, and Adverteyes) as part of Kazoo! Fest 2014.
Q: As an artist who successfully creates work across various mediums, are you conscious of aiming to create a unified body of work or do you consider your projects separate and distinct? If you’ve got an idea to explore, how do you choose between expressing it in visual or musical form?
A: The drawings often feel separate and distinct, mainly because of their fragile nature, but there are elements to my visual work that I would like to see crossover into the musical realm more, where the two may act as support for each other, likely within the mediums of installation or video-based work. I am working on trying to make my visual work as portable as my music project, where the work can fit into a suitcase and can be assembled as larger pieces. It’s tricky when visual art and music are typically split into their own respective venues. Some art shouldn’t be viewed in a music venue, and often music performance in a gallery doesn’t feel quite right, so I’m in the process of reconciling these challenges.
Q: Your exhibit at Ed Video, titled “Promised Land,” is described as an immersive environment comprised of animation, installation, printmaking, and drawings. What concepts and themes are addressed in “Promised Land”?
A: Promised Land is a bit of an attack on the senses. It is also a work in progress. I am working towards creating an environment that is as engulfing and totalistic an experience on the mind as media has on influencing our everyday thought. It takes an over-the-top stance on the fantasy of illusive imagery we are presented in our society, where relevant and important information is often abstracted, left as fine print, avoided, or left out of the picture entirely. My drawings allow me to refer to some of the issues I want to illustrate: overabundance, resource extraction, blind faith in a broken system, powerlessness, but also respect to Mother Earth, the land, and where we come from. Overall, I want all aspects of my musical and artistic practice to be empowering to the listener/viewer. At the end of a show I wanna feel the glow and rage that makes changes. I am forever work-shopping ideas.
Q: Many journalists have used the term “tribal” to describe your solo music project Petra Glynt, and you’ve recently spoken out against the use of this reductive term and its colonist connotations. Can you address why this label is so problematic?
A: It’s very much problematic because as a non-indigenous white person, “tribal” does not apply to me. I am made up of Irish, Scottish, and French settler blood. I have no ancestral roots, and therefore no tribal family in my background. I realize that it’s just a word, but at the same time, when used to describe my music, it is a word that dismisses the existence of real tribal societies and music today and historically. I also can’t help but feel that this is a cultural issue that points to an overall lack of respect for indigenous societies. I do not want to point fingers at journalists – and as a society, I should hope that we have come a long way since Canada’s colonial history – but we must all be careful and conscious living here, as it is a place with an ever-changing cultural landscape, home to many indigenous groups, and to people from all over the world.
Q: How would you describe or categorize your music – and why did you choose to work under the alter ego Petra Glynt? What does the name mean?
A: Ha, well in plain language, it’s experimental pop, but danceable. The new music is highly percussive. It’s shadow and light and harsh and beautiful. It tries to be critical of the world I know, but also celebrate what we have collectively. It wants to push you to the brink tears, tear you apart, but also make you feel strong and whole. Maybe that’s too many intentions, but I try to infuse it with as much heartfelt meaning as I can offer. Petra Glynt is a riff on the word petroglyph, which are historical markings that illustrate the life and culture of their time… it’s something that resonates with me. Maybe it enters into the realm of what I feel my responsibilities are as an artist living in failed economic and political system.
Q: What’s next for Petra Glynt and for your visual arts practice? Having recently received an Ontario Arts Council Popular Music Grant, it seems there are many possibilities ahead.
A: After the Ed Video show I will be bumming around Ottawa and Montreal for bit, playing some shows. Then for May, I will be on Toronto Island doing a residency at Artscape Gibralter Point, which will be devoted to producing a full-length album.