Morning Tea & Torture podcast with TapirOne
Link to the podcast on all platforms:
https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/tapirone/episodes/Kim-Henry--Eric-Par-e234ncj
We recently had the chance to spend an amazing podcast recording session with TapirOne. He came to us with the most thoughtful questions we’ve ever had. Some of which we ended up writing about.
Intro
My guests today are Kim Henry and Eric Paré from Montreal, Canada. Kim is a professional contemporary dancer & performer fascinated with movement, nature and human beings. Eric is a visual artist, photographer and light painter who creates stunning images using light tubes and long exposure techniques. They perfectly combine their crafts, with Kim bringing her grace and movement to Eric’s compositions. So, you could say: they are a dynamic duo of visual art and dance! Together, they travel the world and collaborate on projects that show, in every single picture and video, their passion for what they are doing. Today, Kim and Eric are here to talk about their art and their life. Everybody, please welcome Kim Henry and Eric Paré!
Our answers to two of the questions:
TapirOne: On your website, you are writing that your light-painting is more than just a technique - it’s a way of life, and that you are striving to share this passion with your audience through your work. Please describe a bit in what way you see your painting of light as a way of life, and what this actually means.
Kim: We make choices in order to be able to have creativity, a lot of time outdoors. Simplicity & creativity. We approach most of what we do with rigor, curiosity & playfulness.
Our outdoor art process requires us to be strong, enduring and adaptable physically & mentally. We want to be able to perform physically & creatively in hard conditions, and we have daily practices incorporated in our lives to achieve this.
We are on a journey seeking growth and development. It requires discipline, flexibility, adaptability, consistency, commitment, persistence…
TapirOne: What role does storytelling play in your art? Are there specific themes or narratives you like to explore?
Kim: Reality & fantasy. The extraordinary in the simplicity.
Our intention is that people feel something that opens them up.
Curiosity, sense of awe, appreciation of beauty from nature, a sense of mystery, perspective. Magic.
We like to refer to what we do, be it our dance images or outdoor light-painting as visual poetry. We don’t approach creation as a capture of a specific moment in time. It is, but we usually aim for a sense of timelessness. In that sense, we don’t approach creation from a storytelling perspective. It’s an open page for the viewer to see a story if they want to, but we come from a place of wishing to feel things and being comfortable with the idea of not understanding intellectually why. Not analyzing.
There is a lot of mystery and potential for imagination in what is not being said, what is not explained or shown. As an audience & a creator this is what I enjoy. That space for the individual experience & connection to a piece.
Thanks TapirOne! See you IRL one day :)