The Illuminations Project: Shary Boyle & Emily Vey Duke
The Illuminations Project is a decade-long collaboration between two artists, feminists and friends. Shary Boyle and Emily Vey Duke's visionary call-and-response forges connections between subversion and joy, drawing and writing. It is an exquisitely rendered road map through the chaos of growing up female, fearless and hungry for meaning.
Printed in its entirety in
this 96-page book, The Illuminations
Project assumes an epic structure, embracing free-form ideas
as readily as the drive for narrative momentum. The project loosely charts the
journey of a character named Bloodie, a young girl who travels across
fantastical lands populated by all manner of creatures—human, animal and
otherwise—including fellow traveler Peg-Leg and his gang of Wild Boys. Drawing
on philosophy, religion and myths alike, the tale that unfolds speaks potently
to the freedoms and dangers of the wild, the nature of power and desire, and
the brutalities of contemporary life.
Introduction by Jon Davies. Texts by Shary Boyle and Emily Vey Duke.
Hardcover, 96 pages, 12.25 x 10.25 in
ISBN 978-1-894707-36-7
Oakville Galleries, 2015