Mask artist Miya Turnbull brings 100-mask show to Lethbridge Oct. 29-30
The performance piece draws on Japanese Canadian family history tied to the forced removal of families from coastal BC during WW2.
Mask artist Miya Turnbull, who began her craft while earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the University of Lethbridge, is returning to the city to present OMOTE 面, a full-length performance featuring 100 handcrafted masks exploring identity, memory and family history.
Turnbull, now based in Halifax, partnered with Vancouver choreographer Shion Skye Carter on the work. The title comes from a Japanese word meaning both face and mask, and the piece draws on rituals such as the tea ceremony and the concepts of "hone" (true feelings) and "tatemae" (public face).
The trip holds personal significance for Turnbull, whose mother's family settled in southern Alberta after being forcibly removed from coastal British Columbia during the Second World War. She called the return to Lethbridge, where she made her first mask, a way of "closing a circle that started long before me." Carter, making a first visit to Lethbridge, said the choreography grew out of both artists' family histories and their connection to ancestors.
OMOTE 面 will be performed at the Community Room at Casa on Thursday, Oct. 29, and Friday, Oct. 30.
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