Sonja Ahlers "The Selves"

ART EXHIBITION and BOOK LAUNCH
Thursday May 13 from 6-9pm
Magic Pony
694 Queen St W, Toronto, ON, Canada

Before blogs, there were zines. Before zines, there were scrapbooks. Sometimes overlooked in the quest to produce high culture, these most direct and intimate means of communication and recording memory are the tools favoured by Sonja Ahlers in the making of her art.

A self-taught artist and writer, Ahlers wears her pop culture obsessions on her sleeve, professing her love for such visual icons as Princess Di, Holly Hobbie and Stevie Nicks. Focusing on found objects such as stickers, greeting cards, magazine photos collected in collage framework, complete with song lyrics hand-lettered in cursive script and heartbreaking, melancholic water colors, Ahlers explores and exposes the social construction of roles, feminine and otherwise. Beginning with incipient childhood self-awareness and traversing high school status jockeying to adult social climbing, the cultural imagery that supports and informs personal identity is given uneasy new meanings and importance in Ahlers' visual remixes. With The Selves, the schizophrenic nature of an identity foraged from modern cultural sources is laid bare.

Sonja Ahlers' meditations on childhood, pop culture and feminine power are beyond entertaining. Entering the alternate reality she's created in 'The Selves' I found myself standing somewhere seductive, familiar and very funny.

- Kathleen Hanna

SONJA AHLERS PRESENTATION AND WORKSHOP
Tuesday May 25 from 6-9pm
Narwhal Art Projects
680 Queen St W, Toronto, ON, Canada

Please join us for a special presentation and workshop with critically acclaimed artist Sonja Ahlers. Recognized for her cerebral methods of scrap-booking and collage, Sonja has authored three books, and uses zines as an important part of her art making process. Sonja’s collected cultural icons, written poetic fragments and drawings make up a portrait of a woman that is instantly recognizable to an entire generation. Her innate style of personal storytelling follows her throughout her multifaceted art practice, and serves as a great quality in the connections she achieves through work. Sonja will speak about her creative process and experience of making ‘The Selves’: and will relate experiences with scrapbooking and zine making as a medium unto itself.

Following Sonja's presentation, Toronto artist Selena Wong will join Sonja to lead an interactive zine workshop with participants. Known for her delicate paintings and incredibly detailed hand, Selena creates tiny art books and exhibits regularly with Narwhal Art Projects. Selena and Sonja had the chance to collaborate during 'The Selves' and will re-unite for this interactive workshop where everyone participating will have the opportunity to make their own mini eight page book. Small zines and books are a great way to assemble a body of work quickly, and part of the charm of these small publications is the very intimate and immediate nature of them. Zines can be made by anyone and everyone, as they are self published, and in turn easily accessible. Sharing handmade zines is also a great way to form communities and forage new friendships, as well as find artistic inspiration. Create your own 'selves' through this fun evening of zine making.

Pages from "The Selves":