Like Moths, We Dance
A proposal by Michelle Cieloszczyk & HollyJo, Florence Carlyle Sculpture Commission, Woodstock Ontario.
Like a moth to the flame, queer people have migrated across Ontario in search of community, safety and acceptance. In honour of such yearnings for connection, our sculpture forefronts queer vitality - what we see as a wellspring of energy for social progress and self-actualization. There has never been a more important time to cherish our queer and non-confirming kin.
In the process of working on our proposal, we researched Florence Carlyle’s paintings, including a visit to the Woodstock Art Gallery’s vault, accessing slides from Museum London’s collection, and a visit to the McIntosh Gallery’s vault. We familiarized ourselves with Florence’s portraiture of women imbued with grace, dignity, and at times seduction. We came to see her use of cloth as it relates to what is seen and unseen, what is veiled or closeted. Tasked with breaking open the lingering Victorian stigmas of propreity, we found ourselves unraveling these ideas and challenging them.
Our sculpture is an ensemble of three elements - a lamp and two metal sculptures, set in a circle of pea gravel. We were struck by a vision of Florence and her partner Judith Hastings, dancing together in an eternal embrace of joy and love. The pair, represented by two upturned gown fragments, 3d modeled from actual gowns borrowed from Theatre Woodstock, twirl, dance, and frolic around a lamp, encircling it like a maypole. Flipped upside down, the gowns convey the ways that queerness disorients heteronormativity. The amorphic forms, reminiscent of the petals of a flower, and the lamp, its pole and pearl echoing the pistil of a flower, compose a garden that indulges in the delight and beauty often captured in Florence Carlyle’s painted subjects. We were deeply moved by her paintings The Moth and Joy of Living and integrated the most captivating elements of the pieces in our sculpture: warm impressionistic lighting, the sumptuous flow of fabrics and the ecstatic stance of pure joy. The lamp at the center of our sculpture emits a soft orange light into Florence Carlyle Park - a beacon in the cover of night skies. The orange glow from the globe bathes both figures and intermingles in the space between them, creating a hearth.
In our reintroduction of the historic melded with a contemporary sensibility, we hope to elicit curiosity in passersby, as they can pick up clues about Florence through our piece. We hope to create a space for the public to reflect and find beauty. The sculpture is also an important opportunity for us to celebrate the power of women, so often dismissed or unrecognized historically.
Joy of Living, Florence Carlyle, 1910
The Moth, Florence Carlyle, 1910
Community Engagement
We hosted a Community Feedback Session at the Woodstock Art Gallery on Dec. 6, 2023, for Oxford County 2SLGBTQQIPA community members and allies. This roundtable discussion helped inspire our proposal. Attendees shared their personal stories, histories, and experiences revolving around 8 questions on living as a queer person in the area.
A couple of statements we heard were keenly impactful for us in the conceptual development of the piece. A common thread was folks who needed to move in search of community and resources to support them, due to not having enough where they were. We heard about the cyclical nature of hate, homophobia and transphobia, as the violence and discrimination of queer people experienced in the 80s/90s returns to the current generation. Older generations expressed that history repeats and a foreboding sense of us moving backwards socially, bringing us full circle.
Always in motion, the political pendulum swings and this led us to movement as a pillar of our artwork. Movement also came up in conversations about the histories of the Halo Club as a place for dance and self-expression. A safe place to be yourself and release from the dangerously rigid bounds outside of the club’s doorstep. In the face of struggle there is still joy and kindred embrace - this is something we hope to convey in our work.
We heard expressions of collective effort towards Pride: “When you see this face, there are thousands behind me”, and small actions which promote change that are “patches paired up together into a beautiful jacket”. The rights that many before us have fought to attain is a rumbling call for us to remember, hold gratitude, and motivate us to keep moving forward. We are so thankful to have had the opportunity to learn from the fiery leaders in the Woodstock community, fighting to support 2SLGBTQQIPA people.