A Canadian Ghost Story: The Quilt for Joyce Wieland

A Canadian Ghost Story: The Quilt for Joyce Wieland is a tribute to the films and other artwork of the late Joyce Wieland. It comprises a series of vignettes, each referencing the title of one of her films and picking up themes and motifs from her work. Two characters, A and B, are engaged in a somewhat mysterious and arduous endeavour surrounding Wieland’s films. Their memories of Wieland are stitched into a tale that is being told in a time of uncertainty and looming danger. The piece explores artistic legacy, particularly in a feminist and Canadian context, with some of its imagery and sound taken from previous films by Onodera and Feldman Gronau as well home movies, including some from Wieland’s relatives (specifically the archive of Jane Levesque). The varied roughness of the analogue imagery, depending on its source – 8mm or 16mm film, or 8mm videotape, gives the piece a hand-made look, respectful of Wieland’s pioneering adoption of traditional “women’s work” in making her art.