Pam Hall

Pam Hall’s ongoing meditation on the nature of knowledge comes out of a practice deeply invested in close looking and attentive listening. Framing art-making as a way of thinking, Hall offers a sustained consideration of how human knowledge is generated and retained in acts of doing — i.e. knowledge as a verb — undertaken by bodies situated in specific places. Hall’s projects often evolve through various iterations as image series, bookworks, installations, and encounters that reflect an acutely political commitment to valuing local knowledges and expertise. Her contribution to the interdisciplinary anthology Just Fish: Ethics and Canadian Marine Fisheries (1997), for example, was a set of digital images reflecting the viewpoints of fisherman in contrast to the writings of biologists, ethicists, and historians. This carries over into her installation Fragments from the Inshore Archives (1997–98), which mapped how knowledge is shared and physically passed between generations. Later works like Hall’s series Re-writing the Body: Towards the Reading Room(2003–2007) included not only a reading table featuring collaboratively authored books explicitly aimed at gathering female knowledge, but also a series of writing workshops with girls and women who became contributors to the project. This preoccupation with knowledge is most evident in Hall’s ongoing work Towards an Encyclopedia of Local Knowledge (2010–present). The project features a growing series of visual/textual scores of making and doing, developed through encounters with holders of local knowledges. Hall’s collaborative approach involves not only an in situ gathering of local, everyday knowledges, but also a commitment to returning her reflections to their sources for revision and enhancement. Installations of panels and boxed sets of unbound pages invite a process of call and response. At its core, Hall’s practice challenges art’s tendency to disengage from broad and non-specialized communities and seeks to redress art’s absence from discourses on knowledge. Pam HallTowards an Encyclopedia of Local Knowledge (ELK), 2010-2019, installation view, Fogo Island stadium, Fogo Island, 2015.Photo : courtesy of the artist Pam Hall & Jerry EvansTowards an Encyclopedia of Local Knowledge, 2010-2019, details from chapter Miawpukek - The Middle River Photos : courtesy of the artist Pam Hall, Paul Couillard

Pam Hall

Suggested Reading

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Monetized, but Agential, Bodies in Ghost Worlds

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Dominique Sirois