Nuit Blanche took over Humber’s Lakeshore campus this past weekend, and many Humber students were given the opportunity to showcase their work and explore this year’s theme: “Bridging Distance”
This year’s artists were encouraged to explore ways that people interpret and experience the idea of distance. Jenny Fok is a graduate of the visual and digital arts program at Humber. Fok’s piece – titled “Intertwined” – consists of connected threads meant to have viewers reflect on the connections they may have between different times and places in their lives.
“We were thinking about distance, we explored a lot of definitions about distance instead of just physical and mentally, [and] we talked about time as well,” says Fok “Finally we focused on the distance of time. We built our work trying to use something to connect you – the person himself or herself – to the past. So, it’s like every kind of memory and reflection. There are some relationships you just meet once in your lifetime and you might have forgotten it. So we try to link them up.”
Fok collaborated on this piece with two of her former classmates that she connected with during her time at Humber: Chai Soriano and Indra O. Fok says that these connections that she made in her program were how they were able to get work featured at Nuit Blanche.
“Indra and I have been friends since the very start of the program, and then I met [Chai] in a workshop hosted by Humber as well,” says Fok. “We met there as a student participant, and then after one year Chai was the one [who] had a great initiative to join [the workshop] and then she just briefly asked us if we wanted to join as a team.”
In addition to the artists, many Humber students attended the event to show support to their peers. Ikran Osman is a Humber student, and is also doing a work study with Humber as part of the broadcast television program. She attended the event for work, but also to show support to her fellow students.
“It’s really inspiring, because I feel like as a student sometimes you’re always waiting to graduate or to be at a certain place to do these types of things,” says Osman. “So, the fact that they get to have this opportunity to get recognition at such a huge event, I think it’s truly beautiful and inspiring.”
A selection of exhibits will remain open to the public on Humber’s campus until Oct. 13. A full list of extended exhibits can be found here.
