Arteles Catalogue 2023-2020

Silence Awareness Existence program / JANUARY 2023
Zorica Kelly Markovich
Canada
www.kellymarkovich.net
About
Zoriça Kelly Markovich is a first-generation Serbian
Canadian, born in Windsor, ON. She attended university,
pursuing a dance degree, later shifting to visual arts and
eventually graduating with a Master of Fine Arts Degree from
Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University. She now
lives and maintains a studio practice in Kjipuktuk (Halifax),
Mi'kma'ki (Nova Scotia), on the ancestral and unceded
territory of the Mi'kmaq People.
As a multi-disciplinary artist, Zoriça’s work intersects with
art, science, technology, and nature. Fuelled by curiosity, her
exploratory process focuses on interconnectedness—the
relationships within networks, embodied sense memory and
shared collective experiences.
Markovich’s work draws reference from the surrounding
world, ontology, anthropology, and neuroscience by engaging
through issues of permanence, impermanence, presence,
and absence. Her work is multifaceted and expands across
diverse media encompassing 2-dimensional, sculptural, film,
audio, and written prose.
Ice | Light | Tracks
Arriving at the Arteles Creative Center, I had a plan. I planned
to work on a documentary film about the Arctic Circle. I
chose this place during January for the specific purpose that
it would emulate and support the silence I had experienced
in the high Arctic. What I failed to recognize was that the
universe had a different plan. One that would not be ignored.
Inspired by the sacred Finnish deep Winter, I allowed
creativity to unfold organically with little direction. My daily
encounters with nature became a deeper investigation into
presence and absence–the following of tracks, the tracking
of light, and the existence of ice in various formations.
What emerged from this ritual of documenting my
environment through light and ice drawings, photographs,
audio recordings, and video became a meditation on
observing. The resulting archives are a poetic expression of
the passing of time.
The disconnection from outside distractions allowed for total
immersion into the “Silence, Awareness, Existence” theme,
making it more meaningful and creatively fruitful!
I am grateful for my experience at Arteles, I am grateful for
Teemu's vision, and for the beauty of my colleagues who
shared the space and time with me.