Emily Hope was born in Newmarket, Ontario in 1980 and currently lives in Secwepemcúl'ecw (Kamloops, BC). She makes work exploring mid-winter masking traditions and is the founder of the Centre for the Study of Mid-Winter Guising & Folk Customs (CSMWG&FC) and the Wild Man Appreciation Society.

contact: hello[at]emilyhope.ca

“The fabulous development of the book, of print, and the classification of the whole of the most recent archaeological era, have flooded our minds and overwhelmed us. We are in an entirely new situation: Everything is known to us.” —Le Corbusier, 1925

Everything was, in fact, not known to us in 1925 nor is it now, but despite the absurdity of the statement the sentiment is familiar. With the seemingly endless resource of the internet at our fingertips and in our back pockets, it is easy to believe that everything is knowable, if not currently known by you in particular. If everything is knowable, it follows that anything true should be readily verifiable, making any information that cannot be easily supported by numerous credible sources (or that simply eludes a Google search) contentious at best. This cynical mindset is encouraged by our peers, driven by a fear of being found gullible, or, worse yet, uninformed. 

We live in a time when fake news is pervasive and politicians deal in “alternative truths.” This cynicism is not unwarranted. But the quest for certainty, for absolute, objective truth is dealing a quiet death to our ability to experience wonder and belief. 

In large part, my practice is fuelled by a desire to maintain what Tom McCarthy has termed a “productive confusion.” Working with a mythological archetype as my main muse, this confusion is easy to maintain. Much to my delight, there are no clear answers or solid objective truths available in this arena, only a deep and seemingly endless rabbit hole of ideas, theories, and partial histories.