I first became aware of Miya Turnbull’s mask work online while watching Yume. Digital Dreams, a project presented by Tashme Productions in 2022, which brought together 14 multi-generational, multidisciplinary Japanese Canadian artists from across Canada to collaborate in pairs. One of the pieces was Omote (面), the product of four months’ work by Turnbull, based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Japanese-born Vancouver-based movement artist Shion Skye Carter. The work as presented was a beautifully realized collaboration that blended mask work, movement, and music. The success of the works and the synergy between the two artists meant that Omote (面) has lived on in various permutations including a live performance and a film. Now, Omote (面)has found a new iteration as a book of the same name featuring photos by Nanne Springer.

I spoke with Miya and Shion by email.

BULLETIN INTERVIEW

Miya Turnbull + Shion Skye Carter

Miya, you’re based in the mysterious east (AKA Halifax), giving you the distinction of being the furthest east Japanese Canadian I have interviewed to date. There seems to be a hard line drawn at Montreal, beyond which JCs generally don’t venture. How did you come to be living and working in Nova Scotia? 

MIYA Sometimes I wonder how I ended up here, so far away from my family in Alberta, but I honestly love it here so much! After I graduated from University (Lethbridge), I moved to Montréal for a while to shake things up, then I came to Halifax to visit some friends from school. I had the opportunity to travel around Nova Scotia for a week and by the end of that trip, I knew that this was exactly where I wanted to be. I loved the people, the ocean, the colours and the landscape, so I packed up and settled in with my friends. Halifax has a great balance of being a small city (which I like, coming from rural Alberta) yet has an amazing art scene, not to mention music, film and dance! For several years after graduating, I had no idea how to continue with my artwork in the real world and had student loans to pay, but when I moved here, people were encouraging me to apply for grants and after a while, I found a lot of support from the province and community here and before I knew it, over 20 years has gone by.

You come from a pre-war Japanese Canadian family I believe, forced out of BC by racist government policies of the 1940s. Is there some kind of symbolism behind situating yourself on another ocean, clear across the country? 

MIYA Originally my family was based in Mission, BC and then ended up in southern Alberta working on the sugar beet farms. My mom grew up in Lethbridge but ended up settling near Edmonton on a farm which is where I grew up. I’ve always been land locked until coming to Halifax so I never really had a connection to the ocean until now- and I gotta say, I absolutely love it. I miss the ocean immensely whenever I travel. I don’t think I can ever leave since I love it here so much, which is heart-breaking since all my family is still in Alberta. I love and miss them dearly so it is a bit of an ongoing, emotional dilemma. I do find it hard to be far apart from the JC community but having this new found connection with so many JC artists now across Canada has completely changed my life and I keep coming back to wanting to collaborate with so many of these talented, amazing people. It’s incredible how strong these connections are. It’s like an extended family and whenever people travel now, we always make a point of getting together. 

Have you always been an artist? Can you trace your drive to create back to a specific time and place?

MIYA I recently went through some old scrapbooks that my mom had saved and every year ever since I was in kindergarten, I would write: I want to be an artist when I grow up. It was always something in me and my parents really nurtured my creativity and supported my decision to follow this path even though we all knew it would not be very lucrative. I am so grateful to have had an amazing high school art teacher. Ms Linda Lawrence, who also saw my potential and really encouraged me especially during a really challenging time in my life. I was interested in so many different subjects in high school and University but I kept coming back to making art in some form or another. 

These masks. I’ve been following your work on Instagram and Facebook for a while now, and I’ve been blown away by how much you can do with so little. The endless permutations you are able to conjure up are quite mind-boggling. When did you begin working with masks in their present form? 

MIYA It’s true, the masks are just simply paper and glue. Of course, there are a few other factors, like a plaster cast of my face and the photographs that I cut up and collage together, but it is such a simple medium to work with and simple idea, yet there are so many different iterations and possibilities that I get really excited thinking about it! My first photo-mask was made in University during an independent studio in 1998. It seemed like everything that I was absorbing during my BFA just all came together: sculpture, photography, painting, print-making, biology, anthropology, psychology, etc. It was a ‘eureka’ moment for me making that very first photo-mask, seeing how I could ‘stretch’ out a two-dimensional photograph over a three-dimensional surface and how life-like it looked. It was a self-portrait but I didn’t really hone in on the body of work that you see me working with today, until around 2005. That’s when I started getting grants from Nova Scotia and realized how much I could explore identity through this mask work and starting building this collection. 

The masks are self-portraits, meaning you are essentially hiding behind yourself. Can you talk about the progress of making and working with the masks. 

MIYA In a way it’s kinda ironic that I’m putting my face on the front of the mask, then hiding my real face behind it, but there’s something in that process that gives me control back of how I am “seen”. While growing up, I was constantly being asked, “where are you from?” and we would do the dance that many people here also know all too well, until I finally told them what they wanted to know, that I’m half-Japanese and then they would be satisfied. The mask work has definitely come out of this fascination with ‘faces’ as a symbol of identity. I love the physical process of making the masks, forming the faces, sometimes connecting several masks together at once and I love trying to come up with new variations. I love learning and connecting more with my Japanese heritage through traditional artistic practises and iconography in the masks. I love wearing the masks even though I can’t see or breathe through most of them. It forces me to see from outside of myself. I love having so many masks at my disposal for performances or exhibits because I love them individually but more so as a large group. I love wearing multiple masks or fragments of masks together and moving them in a way that opens up to reveal more faces underneath. There is so much to explore with the masks that I feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface. 

The masks almost have a life of their own. I’m curious about whether the masks themselves dictate what you do with them, or whether you’re in charge of the whole process. 

MIYA It’s a bit of both perhaps. The masks really do take on a life of their own which I find very interesting to work with. Sometimes the nature of the mask dictates how I move with it. Or I could do the exact same gesture with one mask to the next and it would completely read differently based on the mask image which I also find interesting. Each mask has a different ‘energy’ even if I try to replicate one I’ve already made. The mask is inanimate, so it’s my body and movement that brings it to life. But also in saying that, I could dedicate my entire practise to just photographing the masks in my collection and even though they are just an ‘object’, the mask can seem very much alive just by changing the angles and the lighting even slightly. And because they are photo-realistic to begin with, there is already something imbued in them, particularly the eyes, that make it seem like they are ‘alive’ or not quite, but then that gives it that ‘uncanny’ quality that makes me cringe a bit. Which I like, a lot! Part of my process is using video to record myself and when I watch the footage as soon as I see something interesting happening, I can go back and develop that idea further, so I get a lot of feedback from the visuals. 

Yume. Digital Dreams was dreamed up during the pandemic as a way to bring artists together, perhaps as an antidote to the isolation we were all experiencing. Did you feel an immediate connection with Shion when you two were paired together or did it take time to negotiate how to work together?

MIYA Yes, it was immediate! I was particularly drawn to Shion’s work as soon as I saw her work online. Wearing and performing with my masks was still relatively new for me, so I knew working with a dancer would be so interesting and would take my practise to a whole new level, which it has. I noticed that she used themes of masking in her work, using various objects or with the rice paper and calligraphy seen in her solo show “Residuals (住み·墨)” and I could see us working really well together. The first zoom call we had together was instant connection and that compatibility has lasted through working remotely together and then when we finally worked in-person together, our collaboration and relationship only got stronger so I am really excited to continue. There’s no way I would have gotten on stage to perform live, other than with Shion. Her presence and expertise brought out something in me I never would have explored otherwise. I can’t wait to work with her again next year!

SHION Collaborating with Miya to create Omote (面) felt very organic, and as soon as we were paired up in the Yume. Digital Dreams project by Tashme Productions, we began to bounce ideas off of one another and build onto them. I’m so grateful to have met an artist at a different artistic intersection from me who I see so eye-to-eye with, where the exchange of creative visions happens naturally; I believe this has been a key factor in how we’ve been able to experiment with Omote (面) in so many different forms, and how we continue to dream about how future iterations of this project might take shape. I was immediately fascinated by Miya’s masks when I was introduced to her work, with their uncanny beauty and the innate personality that each unique mask holds. It’s been a pleasure to work with Miya, to bring these masks to life in a new way with choreography.

One thing that fascinates me about your masks and the way you use them in a sculptural-fashion is that they read well in a two dimensional medium like photography. How did the book come about?

MIYA I do find it interesting (and lucky!) that even though the masks are three-dimensional, they translate really well into portraits and video performances. In fact, it sort of helps the ‘illusion’ of these masks becoming my new face, especially since they are photo-based to begin with. The portraits or videos can now stand alone as art pieces with the mask serving as a prop. But also I gotta say, that performing live with the masks is so exciting simply because the audience gets to experience them finally in 3D which makes it even more special I think. This thought alone helps me get over my stage fright. 

Shion and I were commissioned by CanAsian Dance to create a 20 min performance and we received extra support through Canada Council to assist with travel and we also asked for funding to document our project. Shion had heard of Nanne Springer through another dancer and the photos were incredible. We arranged to meet with Nanne when we came to Montréal to premiere Omote (面) and it felt really collaborative all three of us working together in the photo studio. 

The results were amazing and I immediately thought this should be a book because they were so beautiful all together as a collection. The opportunity to make this happen came when I submitted our images to a call for Booooooom’s Art & Photo Book Award and our project was selected to print 100 books. So I had to get to work with the selection and layout and the result was this sweet little photo book that captures another layer of our project. 

When did you know that this work would live on beyond Yume.?

SHION Personally, when we were concluding our creation period for Yume. Digital Dreams in spring 2022, I didn’t want it to come to an end! There were so many ideas that kept flowing that we didn’t get a chance to incorporate into the five-minute film we created in the timeline we had. The majority of the creation for the film was done long-distance and virtually over video call; in a happenstance trip I took to Halifax, we spent two hours together in-person to film some scenes together. I had a blast dancing with Miya and the masks in the same room, and we both started to envision a live performance version of the work as a way we could work together in-person more. From there, the project has taken exciting new forms, including our recently published Omote (面) photo book. I can’t wait to see all of the new directions that this project will continue to take us, and to share it with more audiences across Canada and internationally.

Was there anything that surprised you, or that you learned about yourself as you began working with the masks?

SHION I feel honoured that Miya shared her knowledge and mask-making process with me, so that I could have hands-on experience making my own mask as part of the dozens of masks we use in our performance. I was surprised by the steps involved in making them, which is different from what I had initially imagined, as well as how many small, individually-cut pieces of paper are then reassembled into facial features (whether realistic, distorted, or sometimes lacking features altogether). As a dance artist, I’ve become increasingly curious to be part of making the costumes, set pieces, and props in the performances I develop, and this project with Miya was a great opportunity to explore that. I was also surprised by how differently I use my brain and my eyes/vision when performing with the masks. When wearing the masks on the face or head, they can obscure much of what you can see. This was a new experience for me, as I often rely on my vision a lot when dancing, and it was a chance for me to learn and use different ways of sensing my surroundings and navigating space while being embodied with the masks, whether they are extensions of the body or part of the landscape on stage.

Is there anything about this work that you have absorbed into your own toolkit as an artist?

SHION Through this project, I’ve realized that each mask is like another being, another performer, who is holding as strong of a presence as you are. Through the choreographic process, Miya and I have begun developing an acute awareness and sensitivity to them. This heightening of the senses, and treating props and objects as performative beings, is something I’m excited to continue improving upon through future remounts of Omote (面), and incorporating into my other projects as well.

I’m a big admirer of both of your work, can you each talk a bit about what you see in each other’s work that really speaks to you?

SHION In Miya’s work, I see a rawness, an innate voice from deep within her that has led her to establish her beautiful mask-making practice. Miya’s masks are so uniquely her, even when they take on new shapes and other people’s facial features. I’ve been drawn to her work since I first saw it, and can’t wait to see what she creates in the years to come.

MIYA I am in awe of Shion and how she can express so much through movement. The way she can hold her body and breaks things down to its essence blows my mind. Shion is so ambitious, articulate, thoughtful and organized and such an amazing artist and person. I’ve learned so much from her and I know she going to go so far in life and in their career!

Do you have any further plans for Omote (面)?

SHION We’re currently making plans to expand the performance version of Omote (面) into a full-length work, to perform in Vancouver in 2025. It’s exciting to continue seeing how this project can evolve and grow larger in scale!

How do people order the book? Is it for sale anywhere?

Yes but there aren’t too many left. The books can be ordered online through Artmobile: sh4540.ositracker.com/347921/12221/url_29102 

Retail price: $30 USD or $40 CAD

In Vancouver, people can get in touch with Shion directly:  www.shionskyecarter.com/contact

In Halifax, people can get in touch with Miya directly: www.miyaturnbull.com/bio-contact and there’s also a copy in the NSCAD library.

In Calgary, books are for sale at the Esker Foundation, which is where Miya is part of a group show until December 17 (Note: the book will be continued to be sold at their bookshop even after the exhibit)

Is there anything either of you would like to add?

Miya and Shion would like to thank Tashme Productions for bringing us together and to photographer Nanne Springer for these gorgeous photos and to Canada Council for the Arts for their support and a huge thank you to Booooooom for the Art & Photo Book Award that made the printing of this book happen.   

Miya’s IG: @miyamask

Shion’s IG: @shionskye