Artist Spotlight - Harmony McNish
Harmony McNish
Graduate of Fenelon Falls High School
Artist Statement:
Harmony is a visual artist currently attending Ontario College of Art and Design University, where she is working at completing a bachelor's degree in Sculpture and Installation. Her practice often is a reflection or has a direct correlation to frequented places, near Kawartha Lakes, that resonates with her sense of home. The work she produces, often forms around the theme of humans advantageously destructing nature and environments without a regard for the natural well-being. Although she is in the exploration stages of learning many new mediums, she often incorporates the materials, wood and metal into her sculptures.”
Soap Fish
35cm x 25cm x 15cm
Soap, wooden plaque, aluminum beverage can
April 2019
“The work Soap Fish is inspired from my fishing experiences, it is best described through a fishing tale. This story is not an exaggerated or a comical one but a depiction of contaminated waters and human impact on habitats. Soap Fish first developed on 02/18/19 when I caught a Northern Pike on Lake Saint John. I would like to recognize that Lake Saint John shores are a part of the Mnjikaning First Nation Indian Reserve No. 32 in Ramara township, Ontario. As I brought the fish home to prepare to share and eat the being, an individual shared “If you eat this fish it would be the same as eating soap” referencing the water contamination from an offshore soap factory dumpage. I was unfamiliar with the history and environmental conditions of the Lake. To continue with my story, when I was skinning the fish an oily residue spilled out and I noticed clear lumps on the body. That observation was when I realized I needed to create an awareness regarding the issue the factory has created for the locales - human and non-human. Even though the warning signs and cautionaries to eating from Lake Saint John I ate and shared the fish because I took the beings life. Soap Fish became a taxidermy like representation of my experience and an honorary of the life I took. Usually, a taxidermy fish is merely a trophy to a fishing story, whereas Soap Fish, a taxidermy like replica, is meant to bring awareness to the contamination of Lake Saint John.”
