Witness \ Temoin

This career overview brings together personal and political narratives present in works spanning fifteen years. nichola feldman-kiss' artistic practice has evolved from using her body/psyche as a site of exploration of identity narratives framed by interests in psychoanalysis, feminist and postcolonial theories of subjectivity. Recent artwork stems from the artist's observations of violent global conflict following her time spent with the Canadian Forces (2010-2011) where she trained for peace service and deployed to the UN Mission in Sudan to bear witness to violent conflict and collective trauma. Most recently the artist has worked with partners in India to research the historical remnants of the international trade in human osteological specimens to continue her study of the body, contemporary geopolitics, and cultural imperialism. This publication attends to all of these aspects of feldman-kiss' body of work and maps a progression by providing analysis of four installations: the intuitive source material of the reliquarium database (2000); the personal and often jarring juxtapositions of childish objects (1966-), including the machine object the camera eye (aka. Witness) (1972, 2006 - 2015); her witness of the Sudanese conflict as reflected in the haunting video triptych after Africa \ "So long, Farewell" (sunset) / a yard of ashes (continuous cross) / "Oh! How I hate to get up in the morning!" (sunrise) (2012). Exhibition: Ottawa Art Gallery, Ottawa, Canada (02.10.2015-07.02.2016).