Akin Vitrine Q&A Series: Enas Satir installation 'A state of Chaos'
Image Description: a photo of the Vitrine installation by Enas Satir featuring multiple hand-painted ceramic vessels arranged among some sand.
Welcome to the Akin Vitrine Q&A (Question and Answers) Blog Series where we highlight the latest Akin Vitrine Gallery installation and present a recent interview with the exhibiting artist. Today’s artist is Enas Satir, whose installation ‘A State of Chaos’ is currently in the Akin Vitrine Gallery at Akin St.Clair (1747 St.Clair Ave West) until the end of June. Thanks for participating, Enas!
Please see below for Enas’s answers to the Q&A and to learn more about the exhibition. To see more of her work visit www.enassatir.com or on Instagram @enas.satir
Artist Questions & Answers (Q & A)
What was your first medium: crayons, smelly felts, finger paints or other?
Very boring answer: paper lol
What are you curious about right now?
Just figuring out my art journey internally. I have kept looking out there all my life for inspiration, now I’m curious about what I feel and have to say detached from outside influences
Where would you like to see your work exhibited?
I would like to be exhibited in Toronto if I can . I would like to exhibit everywhere in Toronto.The past year most of my shows haven’t been here, and most of the time I haven’t been able to attend. So to make Toronto truly my home, I think I need to see more of my work exhibited in Toronto. If it was totally up to me I would exhibit all the time and have my work sell as part of the exhibitions.
What’s your studio routine? Morning/afternoon/night owl?
I love mornings. I love my studio mates…I’m blessed to have a great group of people in my studio.. but I love to go very early in the morning before anyone is there. To have a little private moment with the studio. I’m getting older and have lost my night owl status lol.. but I do also enjoy staying at the studio until midnight too. I alternate between the two, depending on my mood, my energy and the circumstances.
Is there an artist you'd like to go back in time to meet? Or someone you'd love to invite to dinner right now?
Vincent Van Gogh. I feel blessed to work as an artist, but there’s also great mental struggle in the process too (at least for me) and talking to someone like Vincent, whose struggles defined his life… Meeting him or talking to him, it might help put things in concrete perspective, and help me understand that the mind which creates the work might also be the source of tremendous mental struggle.
In your studio work, are you a daily ritual person or are you project based, working long hours in spurts?
I’m a bit of both. For the most part I like to keep a daily routine . I quickly realized after starting doing my art full time, is that I need to be at the studio everyday. A weird coldness creeps into my studio if I don’t show up.. and a weird feeling that I have to apologize to the studio if I don’t show up. But I also try to accommodate my nature, which over time I am suspecting that by natural rhythm seems to be work extremely hard on something to take a break and then come back. Forming my routine is an ongoing process and I trust it’s slowly happening
If you could only hear one song for the rest of your life, what would it be? (Or would you prefer to never hear music again?)
There was this cartoon in Arabic: ‘Sameed’..I dunno the original Japanese name… and it had this nice intro song: TA TA RATA.. SAMEED.. I hum it all the time and wouldn’t mind listening to this song over and over. I think Sameed is a snail.. but I’m not sure.
What do you hope people get from your work?
Whatever part connects with them. Through talking to people I get a lot from that, even when I don’t think someone might relate to my work, different background .. etc.. I’m also surprised that people always find the overlap between my experience and theirs.
Where do you go to be inspired? What do you do to get started?
Nature and journaling. I start art journaling and I start feeling better, even when I’m depressed. I end up feeling a mixture of calm and …energized*? (*I can’t think of the right word.. but it’s the feeling of excitement when you’re onto something).
What are you NOT very good at?
How much time do you have lol. I’m not good with anything that requires management… time, deadlines, social media, my calendar, my emails.. my goal is to reach a point in my art career where I can hire someone to manage all that, and I can have my undivided focus on my art..😬 Meanwhile it is good to at least try and and learn the management stuff 🙂
If you could be any fruit or vegetable, what would you be and why?
Ananas (pineapple). It was my nickname when I was a kid (Enas the Ananas). And I think it’s fitting .. hard and spiky on the outside.. not too bad on the inside.
In your mind’s eye, what’s your ultimate career goal?
Do exactly what I’m doing now.. and to reach a level in my art career that money is not an issue. And if I decide to spend a whole month sketching or working on a project that I can do it.. That I don’t have to limit those things because they don’t make money..
Why did you join Akin?
I needed an affordable studio space
What are some of the benefits of being in a studio for you? What does your ideal studio look like?
Looks like my studio lol.. a small studio that is large enough to work comfortably from, and surrounded by other artists who are passionate about what they do. And we’re all working together towards different and similar things.
About the Artist:
Enas Satir is a Sudanese multidisciplinary artist, living in Toronto. Her work includes ceramics, illustrations, video making, storytelling and photography. In 2017, Enas migrated to Canada from her home country, Sudan. “‘I might’ve found the warmest form of expression, when I found clay. I’m intrigued by the spirit the clay carries through centuries of ancestry to find its place in the routine of our daily rituals. With my pieces, I add myself and my voice to the ongoing exercise of creation, I see the clay as a canvas to draw faces, movements, attitudes and above all; tell our story. In ‘Daloka; blunt rythms’ Series, through hand-built forms and strokes of underglaze, I retell the story of my culture, impelled by the strong voices of Sudanese women ushered by the beats of the drum.
To see more of her work visit www.enassatir.com or on Instagram @enas.satir
About the Work
“A State of Chaos” on now until June 30th 2023 in the Akin Vitrine Gallery (viewable at all times from street-level) at 1747 St Clair Ave West.
Artist statement:
Khartoum, Sudan is on the brink of collapse. Hundreds of people are dead, thousands more wounded and hundreds of thousands displaced, according to figures from the United Nations. As countries rushed to evacuate their personnel, many Sudanese are stranded behind.
How did we get here: In 2019, after a long fight for freedom, the Sudanese people ousted their dictator, Omar Elbashir. A transitional government (with both civil and military representatives) was then formed to pave the way for elections to set Sudan on the path to democracy. First signs of trouble appeared when the Military generals, Abdel-Fattah Burhan; Commander of Sudanese Armed Forces, and General Hemedti, Head of Rapid Support Forces* conspired to kick the civilian Prime Minister, Abdalla Hamdouk out of the shared government by putting him under forced house-arrest. And with that, annulling the agreement with the Sudanese people, and keeping all power within armed forces and away from civilians. On the 15th of April 2023, the two General; Burhan and Hemedti, once allies, now foes, turned on each other in an armed struggle of power, turning Khartoum to a war zone.
*Hemedti, Head of Rapid Support Forces is also largely responsible of the genocide in Darfur.”
