The Minor Character
Artist
On my desktop I have a folder called Minor Characters. The folder contains notes I’ve made over the years about ‘characters’ I have encountered within art works. These are the characters I have been unexpectedly drawn to. They often exist on the periphery, and play a supporting act to the main event, characters, or situation. They occupy a quiet position within the composition.
As a student of Art History these were the characters who held some kind of symbolic significance (or not), or offer narrative clues. These clues could be found in the colour of their robes, the direction of their glance, or their gesturing hands. These characters are not always human — they are the moon, a window, a hat, a tree, a rock, a half eaten orange, the plinth that a sculpture sits on, a dust ball sat adjacent etc.
Following my encounter and (in the spirit of fan fiction, or a missed connection) I would speculate wildly about this minor character using the work it is situated in as a springboard for a character study.
Bopha Chhay is a curator, writer, and editor. Her research and writing interests are guided by transnational and diasporic histories, collaborative practices, artistic labour, and artists publishing. Influenced by a long-standing involvement in artist run culture, her curatorial work aims to broaden an understanding of artistic practice and cultural production within a wider social and economic context.
Her writing and editorial projects foreground a collaborative process that offers a platform for experimental, critical engagement, and an expanded approach to writing on art. Recent projects have included Artspeak Radio Digest: an audio journal in partnership with Vancouver Co-op Radio; and BEACON: a pamphlet series in ten issues, focussing on how the commitment of artists to wider social movements informs contemporary artistic practice.
Chhay has held positions at Artspeak Gallery (Vancouver, CA); 221A Artist Run Centre (Vancouver, CA); Enjoy Contemporary Art Space (Wellington, NZ); Charles H. Scott Gallery at Emily Carr University of Art + Design (Vancouver, CA); and Afterall, a research centre at the University of the Arts London, Central Saint Martins; (London, UK). She is a sessional instructor at Emily Carr University of Art + Design. Chhay graduated with an MA in Art History from the University of Auckland, New Zealand.
Bopha Chhay
Look to the periphery.
Invitation
The encounter. During your next visit to a gallery, a cinema, or wherever you may encounter art, note what you gravitate towards within a work. Look to the periphery of the work.
Take notes of the ‘character’ you are drawn to. What are they made of? Who/what are they in relation with/to? What is their environment? Try and articulate what has drawn you to them.
Pay attention to the context of your encounter. How are you encountering this character? At a gallery, on a computer screen, in a cinema, at a friend's place, a cafe, or the bus. Describe the specific environment of the encounter, and consider how this may have determined the character's pull.
Using these notes craft a narrative about the character’s role in the context of the work, or remove it from that context altogether.