Photos by Nikos Theodosakis
My art is a process of research for me in many ways.
It is a process that allows me to explore the unknown, the unseen, the unspoken without calcifying these phenomena into rigid definitions or concepts.
I am slow in this, often exploring themes over multiple years through different media. I vacillate between external and internal engagement, though my work is always relational.
It is my desire to share experiences through art that invite us to touch our own personal and collective experience of the numinous - the complex, heartbreaking and ferocious, ecstatic, loving, the deeply human-animal.
Photos by Nikos Theodosakis
Where I come from and where I am now:
Originally, I trained in historic fashion and costume making. Years later, when I did my first exhibition at a gallery and it evolved into an installation, "MicrocosmoSoma", I was set on the path of doing sculptural works in textile. This marked the point where I stepped into creating immersive environments. The theme of coming into connection, or reconnection, with the sensual world was a core one in my work at the time, and this has continued to the present day..
As I evolved in my practice, my work with textiles became a place that allowed me to connect with my body through direct engagement with cloth and material. I followed my interests in psychology, mindfulness practices and somatics, and trained in Intermodal Expressive Arts, integrating these into my studio practice. I discovered that in cultivating this connection with bodily experience, I opened myself to levels of awareness and layers in my work that would otherwise be unavailable to me.
From here, through research facilitating groups of people, I became of aware of my body - or more importantly, “Soma” - in relation to collective dynamics. I discovered in group facilitation a “group body” that had an intelligence that defied personal experience. In an effort to research this in a more committed and directed way, I embarked on “Migration Parade”, a 3.5 year project (still evolving) with electroacoustic sound artist, Danielle Savage. In this work, I explored the relational dimensions of my artwork and creative process to its outer limits, with the emphasis on studying collective relational dynamics through my own practice of phenomenological and arts-based study.
My current explorations are centred more specifically around devotional spaces. What creates a context that opens our perceptions to the numinous? In prior work, I have been sensitive to the space between sculptural objects, light and atmosphere. I am now taking this further in inquiring into the nature of these spaces more directly. What power is held in quiet spaces? What is “space” aesthetically, artistically, spiritually? Can it be contained in physical sculptural objects? Can it be invisible? Relational? Personal? Cultural? Communal? Physical? “Energetic”?
ALEXANDRA GOODALL is a multidisciplinary artist from the Okanagan Valley, British Columbia. In her studio practice, her passion lies in sculptural textile and installation. In her facilitation work and individual sessions, she aims to bridge the disciplines of art, psychology and bodily presence. She holds a Masters Degree in Intermodal Arts from the European Graduate School in Switzerland. Her undergraduate work was in Costume Studies at Dalhousie University.
Photo by Nikos Theodosakis