SERENA LEE
How the line curves
Grounded in the martial arts practice of 太極拳 tàijíquán as a form of self-cultivation and aesthesis, I trace ways of situating oneself with a certain gravity. Through a constellation of embodied practices — with contact, with conversation, with duration in place— I study possibilities for deploying force and attention.
By spending time with embodied processes that antecede and bypass modern/colonial definitions of self and knowledge, I play with porous dualities. Moments of sinking, emptying, working with shadow and blank page are reflections on immanence in dynamic tension with presence.
I diverge from causality towards a logic of resonance that re-orients human agency within the polyphonic operativity of phenomenal experience. From the martial tactic and relational ethics of a “moving centre”, I navigate between temporalities and cultural formations; between ways of living in coherence with reciprocal renewal.
Serena Lee works with polyphony as a way of mapping how things come together and apart. Born and raised in tkaronto/Toronto (CA), Serena holds an MFA from the Piet Zwart Institute (NL), and an Associate Diploma in Piano Performance from the Royal Conservatory of Music (CA); she collaborates and practices close to home and internationally.
