Cadence brings together the works of Ryth Kesselring and Pavitra Wickramasinghe, both of whom explore material ecologies. This exhibition project examines the relationship between rhythms, repetitions, and cycles through installative works. The practices of both artists converge in a critical perspective on our time, ranging from gentle ecological undulations to the frantic pulsations of the digital world, and from the resonance between the natural rhythm of a place to the economic policies that burden that same territory.
The dialogue between the works of Kesselring and Wickramasinghe unfolds through a sensitive exploration of the invisible forces that structure our environments, whether they be sound waves, vibrations, flows, or oceanic movements. Kesselring’s Jacquard weavings translate subterranean frequencies into textile patterns with frayed edges, where advanced technology reveals nearly inaudible sounds, replayed through experimental textile speakers. This tension between amplification and erasure resonates with Wickramasinghe’s works, where works on paper explore movement through gestures of cutting, layering, and transformation using light. Both artists employ installative devices to render perceptible phenomena that would otherwise remain imperceptible, whether buried underground waves or migratory dynamics embedded in the sea and in memory. Their practices interweave materiality, ecology, and embodied experience, inviting the public to inhabit a critical space where natural rhythms and technological systems meet, collide, and transform.
Multidisciplinary artist Ryth Kesselring combines textiles, plants, sound, and electronics in her work. She intertwines the rhythms of the loom with the sounds of nature, or sets the frequencies emitted by plants vibrating in resonance with the hum of her spinning wheel. She is interested in the notion of materiality as a form of social fabric, which she interprets through participatory, tactile, and sonic works. Through her interdisciplinary practice, Kesselring draws parallels between the potential of textiles as living archives and the memories that emerge from the sonic world. Her research focuses on the ecosystem of fibrous materials and soundscapes through which she reflects on current environmental, political, and social issues. Her work has been presented nationally and internationally through various artistic events, exhibitions, and artist residencies. Born in Switzerland, she now lives and works in Montérégie, on the ancestral territory of the W8banaki Nation.
www.rytha-kesselring.com
Pavitra Wickramasinghe’s artistic practice creates immersive environments that invite audiences to fully engage with their surroundings and reflect on the relationships between nature, culture, memory, and territory. Her work revolves around themes of migration, transformation, and the notion of “here” as both a physical and subjective space. The imaginary of the island frequently appears as a metaphor for belonging, movement, and interconnection: both isolated and relational, grounded and drifting. Through installations integrating light, shadow, movement, and multimedia elements, Wickramasinghe highlights invisible forces and open-ended narratives. Viewers are invited to become active participants in the construction of meaning, navigating questions of identity, home, and place through an embodied experience. Born in Colombo, she now lives and works in Montreal/Tiohtià:ke, on the traditional territory of the Kanien’kehá:ka.
www.pavitraw.com
McClure Gallery thanks the Conseil des arts de Montréal and the Canada Council for the Arts for its financial support.
