Gabi Dao
Gabi Dao (b.1991) is an artist from the unceded and ancestral territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm, Skwxwú7mesh and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh Nations (Vancouver, Canada) who now lives in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
Dao’s practice culminates in collage, sculpture, sound and moving image installations with an insistence on multiple truths, blurry temporalities, sensory affirmations and ways of knowing otherwise. They work through long-gestating, fluid processes of gathering, breaking and repairing from their own world-making vernacular of audio/visual fragments, tactile collections of whatnots and scraps of linguistic detritus. Thinking with these materials, their work often begins within the slippages of ‘history’, archives and storytelling— towards channeling the ineffable tensions between grief and joy, alienation and belonging, dissidence and complicity, disassociation and sentimentality. From this juncture, Dao attempts to reclaim and re-enchant meaning-making from the ruins of capitalism and colonialism, especially in the ways they have extracted from racialized, gendered and more-than-human communities. They have screened and exhibited their work and projects across Turtle Island, Asia and Europe and in 2021 they were shortlisted for Canada’s Sobey Award.
They also host intimate, olfactory ‘readings’ through Scent Bar, which operates adjacently to their slow, small-batch perfume business, PPL’S PERFUME.
Exhibitions
Sorry (2020)
soothsay (2020)
Hold these questions close (2024)
Writing & Press
Please contact the gallery for links to films & videos by the artist
i and you, you and i, 2019 (detail) tempered glass, beaded curtain, aluminum,
UV reducing vinyl, transducer, audio, 193cm x 86cm x 121cm
i and you, you and i, 2019 (detail)
a sentimental dissidence, installation view, grunt gallery (Vancouver)
multi-media sound, video and sculpture installation, bench, carpet, coloured lighting, dimensions variable
a sentimental dissidence, installation view, grunt gallery (Vancouver)
multi-media sound, video and sculpture installation, bench, carpet, coloured lighting, dimensions variable
i and you, you and i, 2019, tempered glass, beaded curtain, aluminum,
UV reducing vinyl, transducer, audio, 193cm x 86cm x 121cm
a sentimental dissidence, installation view, grunt gallery (Vancouver)
multi-media sound, video and sculpture installation, bench, carpet, coloured lighting, dimensions variable
ode to you, 2019 (detail) empty cans of coconut water, dried bladder cherry flowers,
photograph, LED lights behind the video screen, dimensions variable
Coco Means Ghost, 2019 (still) HD video and stereo sound, 25m24s
Coco Means Ghost, 2019 (still) HD video and stereo sound, 25m24s
Excerpts from the Domestic Cinema Ch.1 and Ch.2, 2019, installation view, Audain Gallery (Vancouver),
video and sculpture installation, beaded curtains, carpet, cushioned seating, dimensions variable
Excerpts from the Domestic Cinema Ch.1 and Ch.2, 2019, installation view, Audain Gallery (Vancouver)
Excerpts from the Domestic Cinema Ch.1 and Ch.2, 2019, installation view, Audain Gallery (Vancouver)
Excerpts from the Domestic Cinema Ch.1 and Ch.2, 2019 (detail) beaded curtains, 356cm x 906 cm x 1cm
Excerpts from the Domestic Cinema Ch.1, 2019 (still) HD video and stereo sound, 12m50s
Excerpts from the Domestic Cinema Ch.1, 2019 (still)
Excerpts from the Domestic Cinema Ch.1, 2019 (still)
Excerpts from the Domestic Cinema Ch.2, 2019 (still) HD video and stereo sound, 13m08s
How difficult it is to keep our records clean (innocent record, technical dirt), 2018 (detail) animatronic
hand, acrylic nails and accessories, bamboo, lens cleaning cloths, dimensions variable
How difficult it is to keep our records clean (innocent record, technical dirt), 2018 (detail)
The Protagonists, 2018 (still) HD video and stereo sound, 08m09s
The Protagonists, 2018 (still)
Many, Looks, Work, 2017 (detail) acrylic nails and accessories, gelatin, makeup, dirt, other bits of detritus, copper wire, micas, clays, jumper cables, jewellery chain, chain from broken lighting fixture, false eyelashes, nail polish, sowing pins, dried white prune, dried flowers, knotty pine, dimensions variable
Many, Looks, Work, 2017 (detail)
Polished Like a Shell, Curled Up in a Spiral and Voices Tuned, 2017, installation view, Artspeak (Vancouver)
CNC milled polystyrene foam, epoxy, minerals, clays, wood filler, matching radio receivers, pirate radio transmission, dimensions variable
Curled Up in a Spiral and Voices Tuned, 2017
Figure of the Ear at the Centre of Machine, 2015, assorted microphones, mixer, powered speakers, field recorder, MDF, framing lumber, assorted textiles, carpet, some clothing, jumper cable, a collection of bottles and kitchenware, clothing hanger, LED lights, sandpaper, cardboard tube, paper, polystyrene, fake nails, metal rod, non-perishable groceries, bits of plastic, drill, rice, dried beans, assorted sheets of plastic and metal, paper, make up, an orange, glove, rubber ball, a small collection of ceramic vessels, glass vase, fan, bag of starch, guitar strings, dimensions variable
Figure of the Ear at the Centre of Machine, 2015 (detail)