Gaa is delighted to present Backwards Shhhh, a collaborative exhibition of works by Dani (Leventhal) ReStack and Sheilah (Wilson) ReStack. Including a selection of works on paper, a neon wall sculpture, and a video installation, Backwards Shhhh functions as a multifaceted offering that considers concepts of domesticity, sexuality, and femininity, and reveals the foils of freedom and fear that inherently accompany such experiences.

Through the incorporation of a variety of traditional and found objects, materials, and imagery, the works across Backwards Shhhh legitimize manifold interpretations of their condition and being. Their universal, visual language acts as an invitation for excavation, exploration and an embodiment of feeling. Basking in the ruby red essence of I am a Mom, one enters a state of meditative reflection – complicated feelings of pride, joy, love, grief, shame, self-doubt, loneliness, independence, and agency rise to the surface. This light refuses to be contained, permeating the space and imparting its energy and influence on everything within its reach. 18 Wolves as Aides, a multi-part book and drawing by Dani ReStack including marks made by their eldest daughter Rose’s charcoal-coated feet dancing on the paper, presents a collage of photographs and text posing open-ended questions of what it means to be a mother or caretaker. How can one be responsible for another human, when one’s own wounds are so quick to surface? Oscillating between a general understanding and a personal experience, these works highlight shared struggles and achievements on both a macro and a micro level and underscore the ways in which imagery and ideas are disseminated globally and specifically. The physical becomes fluid in the video Blood and Water for Forrest Bess, mundane household items such as pots, pans, bags, and bowls swaying in the translucence of a Nova Scotia bay, scattered at the base of a triangular shape created through the connection of the artists’ bodies. Resistant to stasis and defined by the single constant of change, the water embodies instability while simultaneously celebrating vulnerability. An undulating cloud of color saturates the frame, its vibrant red hue reminiscent of the neon light and evocative of blood. Altogether, the works included in Backwards Shhhh expose and critique pervasive effects of gendered power dynamics, acting as a resolute reminder of the variations in mark, feeling and material that can be mediators of the desire and the conflict intrinsic to human relations.