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Cendrine Marrouat: Your work has been exhibited in Ontario and Québec. A favourite experience to share?
Debbie Ebanks Schlums: In 2010, I exhibited at the Festival International Montréal en Arts. It was a brilliant vantage point from which to people watch. Montréal is so diverse – not only ethnically; but in the character of the people and how they express themselves through their clothing (or lack thereof), the way they carry their bodies when they walk, and in the expression of their ideas.
But the best moment was when I won the Best of Glass Award at the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition. It was judged by Christian Bernard Slater, the curator at the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery in Waterloo, and I was among very accomplished glass artists. It was such an honour to win, since I am mostly self-taught; it was a moment of validation for the work that I do.
CM: If you had to choose one piece in your entire body of work, which one would it be and why?
DES: My most important piece is called "Dilemma." It is a conceptual piece in that its sole purpose is to convey an idea as opposed to existing as an object of form.
I saw Senator Ret. Gen. Romeo Dallaire speak several years ago and he made me come head to head with my biases of pacificsm and anti-militarism. For the first time, I could understand the need for a military solution, which I still wryfully and very reluctantly admit is sometimes the only way out of a situation. Dallaire recounted a situation in which a UN soldier was first faced with a child soldier. The child soldier was pointing his gun at another child. The soldier had to decide which child to shoot. That situation has been imprinted on my brain forever – I still find it unfathomable that this situation exists.
It was only this past year I was able to give an image to that situation that allowed anyone to put herself or himself into the situation that the soldier faced (and for which they are now trained). In "Dilemma," I asked my 10-year-old son to find me a gun – that is the piece of driftwood on the top. The child heads are made of crushed bottle glass, as a reference to the African tradition of art-making with what is at hand. Both the gun and the heads are removable. The viewer holds the gun and decides which head should fall.
Not everyone likes to be put in that situation, but this piece has spurred more conversation than any other. I have had comments from a hostage negotiator, a yoga teacher and a former soldier, among many others. Each one has a different take on what should be done in that situation. It’s a piece that forces the viewer to empathize both with the children and with the soldier.
CM: Are you working on a specific project these days?
DES: I am working on an eight-foot figure. It is still part of the child soldier project, but it is going beyond that general narrative to something more universal. The head and neck is a mask that is two-feet high, and the limbs will be made in the same pâte de verre style I use for my figures – so there will be a look of decay, but at the same time; a feeling of becoming. The body will have a wire frame and a dress of felted wool patches.
It is a girl, and I am making her larger than life because they are the children we’d rather not see; we’d rather not know they exist because the rehabilitation and reintegration of child soldiers is so controversial, and even moreso where girl soldiers are concerned.
This piece is significant for me because it holds me to my conviction that all people (and things) are related to each other by virtue of being a part of this earth. It is only due to circumstance that those children are not my children. But a part of me feels that they are. The model for the figure is my own daughter.
CM: Where can people find more information about you?
DES: My website is: www.debbieebanksschlums.com and my blog is: http://debbieebanks.wordpress.com.
CM: Any last words?
DES: It may sound somewhat odd, but I am not as serious as my work seems to be; and I find my work more ironic than earnest, even humorous at times. I’m not sure anyone else sees it that way, but that’s how I experience it. I just love to find these little insights into life; and laugh at them after I’ve done a whole lot of crying.
My work can be purchased though the Bartlett gallery and the RA Gallery. What I would really like to do is partner with an organization that addresses child soldiers to exhibit the work so that actual war-affected children can benefit from any sales of the work. I haven’t really pursued this side of things yet; I’m just busy producing; but it is a goal I have.
End of the interview.
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Cendrine Marrouat may be contacted for potential interviews, reviews and general enquiries at info@cendrinemarrouat.com. Website: www.cendrinemarrouat.com.
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