Performing Flux: Romi Kim with Marilyn Marshall, Jan Legault and Craig Cochrane

The Sunshine Coast Arts Council is delighted to host works by artists Romi Kim, Marilyn Marshall, Jan Legault and Craig Cochrane. As the fifth anniversary of the Sunshine Coast’s LGBTQ2+ art show, the works in photography, video and painting and explore issues of gender, identity, and sexuality. Capturing for a moment in time what is in a perpetual state of flux, the works have a wonderful resonance for the pauses, suspensions and changes we are all experiencing during the pandemic.

As we move through the world we are constantly reacting and adapting to the persistent stream of information and stimuli flowing around us. Times change, perceptions shift. Things are in motion, creating uncertainty but also infinite possibilities, transformations and re-inventions. In a society where the definitions of male and female are fluctuating, how does that affect how we interact with the world and the diversity of people in it? Is who we were yesterday, individually and collectively, still hold true for who we are today? And how do representations of bodies (ours and others) become a medium for expressing this.

Known as Romi Kim, 김새로미 or Skim when on stage in their drag persona. Kim has lived in various small towns and cities in British Columbia. She worked in rural South Korea in 2017 and is currently based in Vancouver. Kim searches for stories, of belonging to explain society and its hierarchies. Kim primarily works within an interdisciplinary approach in video, installation, performance and media. The themes of her artistic practice include racialization, nationality, and relationships. She often uses her own experiences to share her perspective on multifaceted identities. She obtained her Bachelor of Fine Arts at the University of Victoria in a double major of Visual Arts and Gender Studies.

Marilyn Marshall has been drawing and painting on the Sunshine Coast for twenty years. Her work is grounded in life drawing and is marked by a love of organic structures. She has shown her work regularly on the Coast, including a solo show, “Close to the Bone,” at the Gibsons Public Art Gallery in 2016. Her recent work is inspired by some classical thoughts about gender change, by visual fluctuations during chemotherapy, by playful thoughts about cross-species masquerade, and by some of her own reinventions with aging.

Identifying as non binary (now X on birth certificate), Jan Legault’schosen pronouns are: Lets Talk! Jan combines “art” with “craft” to create unique, introspective work which is often inspired by what is close at hand.. Here on the Coast, Jan’s work has been exhibited at GPAG (Carpentry for Handicats, a photo essay with music) X has been involved with Sunday in the Park with Pride in an artistic capacity. “Remembering the People: the Orlando Massacre, a Queer Community Collaborative Quilt Project” was conceived and coordinated in 2016. Elsewhere, a mixed media piece called: “i knitted my own limbic system” was shown as part of the “Abilities Festival, Connection: An International Exhibition by Artists with Disabilities”(Toronto) and “kickstART2, Festival of Disability Arts and Culture (Vancouver). Jan’s current work is an exploration of personal trans*formation. It represents acknowledgement and reclamation of self, a metamorphosis while at the same time, unexpected variables have come in to play. Both media and message reflect the show’s theme of life’s constant fluidity.

Craig Cochrane is a local photographer that is commissioned for portrait, commercial, product and theatrical work. He is also known for his macro images of local flora. Craig’s previous exhibitions include Appeteasers A Toronto Burlesque Photographer, at the Liss Gallery in Toronto in 2011, and Refractions: Queer Artists of the Sunshine Coast in 2016. In 2019 Craig successfully debuted at the Sunshine Coast Art Crawl. Today Craig is working with models, performers, and a broad spectrum of local community members to create a mix of composite concept portraits and traditional portraits that speak to gender and sexuality.