Megan Stein

Roses, blankets, shadows, and lights ~~ 2019

Woodcut, silkcreen, debossment on fresh rose petals, emergency blankets, cut fabrics.

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Documentation of my first semester of the MFA, Studio Arts, Print Media program at Concordia University. I was playing with repetition of a rose motif that I drew and translated to woodcut and a three layer silkscreen pattern. I was interrogating the history of eugenics of Alberta in relation to my own personal impairments, through the lens of the "wild rose" that is the provincial flower. While researching in the library at the Jardin Botanique (Botanic Garden), I came across a small green book titled, Guidelines for Judging Roses, 1971. The subtitles recalled ableist language that I had been trying to reconcile, related to ideas of impairment and how a body should look, act, and feel. These subtitles were the underlying thread of this work, and are as follows: "Most perfect phase of possible beauty / Typical of the Variety / Set Standard of Perfection / Degree of Impairment / All Other Things Being Equal ". These subtitles can be found printed on various forms throughout the installation.