Hey Sunshine!

Hey Sunshine!
Moira Hayes
July 6-9, 2022

Satellite Project Space
121 Dundas St
Gallery hours: Wednesday-Friday 2:00-7:00pm, Saturday 12-5pm


Artist Statement:

“Hey Sunshine!” is a body of work about the Sun as a personified entity that I willingly interact with. In my work, I view the Sun through the lens of a lover. With this lens, I am able to examine how unavoidable distance, space, and time affect our perceptions of the people we love. The relationship I convey through the work is often filled with strife and hurt, but with underlying reverence and appreciation.

The body of work utilizes corrugated plastic and vinyl to create text scores and collages about the Sun. The permanent plastic and vinyl juxtapose the ephemerality of the Sun’s presence.

In each piece, the Sun is viewed as a memory, in the past tense, and the struggle to fully capture its presence is evident. This distorted view leaves room for the viewer to fill in the blanks, and to add their own bias and interpretation.

Imagery of crashing cars, traffic lights, and sticks of dynamite appear sporadically throughout the body of work. These objects signify risk, danger, and anticipation, common feelings when entering a new relationship and allowing oneself to be vulnerable. The scores are all written in first person, and each describe a bodily experience (i.e. “swallowing” pain or punching a wall).

The nine compositions, plus a viewer in the space, symbolize the solar system. The viewer as the Sun, the works orbiting and facing inward. The smaller pieces are moons, acting as extensions of the pieces they orbit.