TMDFM / Touch Me, Don’t Forget Me Collective

Artist Residencies

TISAMJORT | Phnom Penh, Cambodia | [JANUARY] 2024
WASHI+ | Kochi, Japan | [JUNE] 2023 - [JANUARY] 2024

Past Exhibitions

SLOW STREET, solo-exhibit at Studio 13 Fine Art | Vancouver | [MAY] 2024
AFTER HOURS, installation at KAMI HAKU: Ino-cho Paper Museum presented by Washi+ AiR | Kochi, Japan | 2023

Workshops | Presentations

PAPER LABS [TIOHTIÀ:KE] free public workshop at Atelier Retailles | Montreal | [AUGUST] 2024
PAPER LABS [TKARONTO] free public workshop at Evergreen Brick Works | Toronto | [JUNE] 2024
Invited Speakers at the AGM Forum for Invasive Species Council of Metro Vancouver | Vancouver | [MAY] 2024
PAPER LABS [VANCOUVER] free public workshop at Arts Factory | Vancouver | [MAY] 2024
TMDFM WORKSHOP free public papermaking workshop at tiSamjort | Phnom Penh, Cambodia | [JANUARY] 2024

Awards | Distinctions

Canada Council of the Arts Grant: Explore and Create Grant, Research and Creation | 2024
Canada Council of the Arts Grant: Explore and Create Grant, Professional Development | 2024
Canada Council of the Arts Grant: Explore and Create Grant, Research and Creation | 2023

Collaborative Projects

PAPER LAB [MONTREAL] collaboration with Atellier Retailles | Montreal | [AUGUST] 2024
PAPER LAB [TKARONTO] collaboration with Toronto Nature Stewards | Toronto | [JUNE] 2024
PAPER LAB [VANCOUVER] collaboration with ISCMV | Vancouver | [MAY] 2024
TMDFM:RESEARCH ON THE CONTEXT OF INVASIVE SPECIES with Kihan Yoon-Henderson | Remote | [FEBURARY-APRIL] 2024

Touch Me, Don’t Forget Me is an ongoing collaboration between Elena Kirby and Masumi Rodriguez. We consider the use of “invasive species” in material-making as a way to build relationships with these plants and the land where they have been collected. As we work with these materials we ask ourselves: what are the conceptual, methodological and ethical implications of using “invasive species” as a source of material? With the topic of “invasive species” that spans across many fields of study, we learn and collaborate with stewardship groups, ecologists, land-workers, human geographers, and artists to be in conversation with the nuances that are prevalent in the relations we hold with these characterized plants. Within our work, we look into individual, collective and institutional motivations, priorities, and approaches of removing these plants to understand our human relationship to “invasive species” and to consider the labor that goes into the stewardship and care of land. In 2023, we spent seven months at Washi+ Residency to learn papermaking techniques using alternative fibre material, as well as learning from the land by maintaining the neighbouring kozo farms in Kochi, Japan. Throughout the summer of 2024, we facilitated a PAPER LAB series sharing this process across the territories we call Vancouver, Tkaronto, and Tiohtià:ke/Mooniyang/Montréal. This upcoming winter, we will be participating in Guapamacátaro Art & Ecology residency in Maravatío, Mexico to further our research on the relations between DSV and Monarch butterflies.