Bio
Kali Jones was born in Canada in 1970.
Her artistic formation began in France, at the age of thirteen, under the painter Paul Courtin. He taught her keen observation and the art of giving form to her intuitions.
The artist employs photography, drawing, collage, video/sound installations and performance art as a means of exploring identity as a permeable, trasformative self.
Her interest in cultures has taken her across the world from China to Europe to the Middle East. Her projects are increasingly multidimensional and collaborative involving other artists.
She lives and works in Palermo, Italy.
Her artistic formation began in France, at the age of thirteen, under the painter Paul Courtin. He taught her keen observation and the art of giving form to her intuitions.
The artist employs photography, drawing, collage, video/sound installations and performance art as a means of exploring identity as a permeable, trasformative self.
Her interest in cultures has taken her across the world from China to Europe to the Middle East. Her projects are increasingly multidimensional and collaborative involving other artists.
She lives and works in Palermo, Italy.
Fragile Equilibrium 2020 camera Francesco Mannarino
Exhibition Photos
Custodire la Vita, Ambient photography and sound installation, Museo Civico Castelbuono, 2021
A doctor, a nurse, a museum employee, a restorer specialised in archaeological artefacts and a performer/educator are the protagonists of this exhibition which explores the oniric presence of five powerful women, their role as caretakers in the world and the transformative power of their work.
We are such stuff as dreams are made on, Performance, MACRO, Roma 2019
"We are such stuff as dreams are made on", a "work in progress" video performance which was first presented at the MACRO in Rome in November, 2019. The installation which also uses music and live voice draws upon the artist's personal memories, videos and photographs, to explore the Invisible and Visible nature of our existence, the shifting nature of our identities. It is essentially about how the individual is related to the whole of creation and likens the recollection of our lives to a series of dreamlike experiences and sensations. The work is a collaboration with the Montreal based Bio Artist Gunes Hélène Isitan. Curated by Maria Giovanna Musso.
Isole - Whale, Borderline, Palermo 2019
Isole, an installation taking the form of a giant whale, incorporating photographs and drawings of bird flight patterns, human migration and the transformation of water - the visual tracking of movement through spy planes and drones, the human desire to control borders.
NICE-CELLO Exhibition in occasion of Giovanni Sollima's concert - Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana, Teatro Politeama Garibaldi 2018
In 2018, inspired by Giovanni Sollima's N-ICE Cello, the artist created an imaginary visual score and an installation of drawings and photographs based on the trasformative nature of water, global warming and our rapport with this element on a macro an micro level.
The Island of the Color Blind, Earth Day, Botanical Gardens, Palermo 2017
The Island of the Color Blind created in the context of Earth Day 2017 was a collaboration with Maurizio Ruggiano, Marta Romaszkan, Clelia Bartoli and unaccompanied Minors studying at the CPIA in Palermo. It involved a body movement workshop studying the form and growth of plants which was then documented by the youths in photographs and drawings. Maurizio created an animation from the project.
Linguaggi Verdi / Green Languages - Artist and co-curator with botanist Manlio Speciale, Botanical Gardens Palermo, Danzatrice Tamil, Visions: clockwise: Michele Di Dio, Juan José Ledesma, Manlio Speciale, Kali Jones 2016
Green Languages/Linguaggi Verdi, co-curated with the botanist Manlio Speciale involved site specific installations and performances in the Botanical Gardens of Palermo. Interazioni Sonore - an interactive sound installation of magnified sounds recorded in the gardens met with voices of the public, creating an improvised microcosmic jungle. A work by Maurizio Ruggiano and Kali Jones in the Carolina Greenhouse.
Installation Albero della Vita 2015
from the series "The Web of Life"
How Deep is the Ocean? Io Sono il Mio Grido , Palazzo Sant'Elia, Palermo 2014
An installation exploring form and memory, paper sculptures which materialize memories of violence in the body.
The Certainty of Shadow - video installation with Adonis - Maurizio Ruggiano, Kali Jones 2011
The Certainty of Shadow, a video installation with the Syrian poet Adonis and the artist Maurizio Ruggiano investigates the nature of perception, inspired by Plato's metaphor of the Cave and sufi concepts of transformation. The theme of exile is at the core of this work and explores the body and language, in this case Arabic, as the "home" of the self. Filmed in Sicily, Canada, Iran and China.
Taches de Vie, Institut Francais, Napoli Ph.Peppe Maisto 2005
Exhibitions
Solo
2021 Custodire la Vita, Ambient photography and sound installation, Museo Civico, Castelbuono, Sicily
2019 We Are Such Stuff As Dreams Are Made On, Video Performance, collaboration with Department of Sociology, La Sapienza University, curated by Maria Giovanna Musso, MACRO, Rome
2018 N-Ice Cello, installation of drawings and photographs inspired by Giovanni Sollima's N-Ice Cello
exploring the vibrations of the ice cello and the biological - geological nature of water
2012 Alone Together, Palazzo Sant'Elia, Provincia di Palermo, Palermo
2011 The Certainty of Shadow : video installation (collaboration with Adonis and Maurizio Ruggiano),
Palermo, Italy
Collaborators: Centro d'Arte Piana dei Colli, Palermo, Canadian culturel centre, Paris,
Fondazione Orestiade, Gibellina, Museo d'arte contemporanea, Caltagirone, Institut français de
Palerme
2008 Studio D, Vancouver, Canada
2005 Taches de Vie, Le Grenoble, l’Institut français de Naples
2004 Museo Civico d'Arte Contemporanea di Caltagirone
2003 Dell’Invisibile, Siracusa, Italy
2001 Rêves Marocains, Le Centre culturel francophone de Vancouver
Collective
2019 Isole, an installation of photographs and drawings dealing with the themes of migration, human control and ecology, Dintorni art project, Borderline, Palermo
2017 The Island of the Color Blind, a collaboration with Maurizio Ruggiano and students of the CPIA, mostly unaccompanied Minors, exploring the theme of Alterity and the world of plants, Botanical Gardens of Palermo, Earth Day
2016 Green Languages, Curators: Kali Jones, Manlio Speciale (botanist)
site specific installations and performances, Botanical Gardens of Palermo, Earth Day
micro/MACRO Visions - collective of artists, scientists
Interazioni sonore - interactive sound installation - magnified sounds recorded in the gardens
interact with voices of the public creating an improvised microcosmic jungle,
Maurizio Ruggiano and Kali Jones, Carolina Greenhouse
Interrelazioni Vegetale - installation exploring the silent language of plants, with SIlvia Aruta.
2015 Il Corpo Offeso, Le Mosche, Palermo
2015 Fuori dall'Ombra: drawings and performance, Albergo delle Povere, Palermo 2014 Drawings and video installation: Un Estate d'Arte, Palazzo Pottino
Petralia Soprana, Petralia Sottana
2014 Io Sono il Mio Grido, Pinacoteca Albertina, Torino
2014 Io Sono il Mio Grido, Palazzo Sant'Elia, Palermo
2013 Traccie, Galleria Resa Libera, Siracusa
2013 Charade, Siracusa, Messina
2013 Macerie, Chiesa del Giglio, Palermo
2012 Barocco Austero, Monastero dei Benedettini, Catania
2007 Alliance française de Vancouver
2005 ANU, Exhibition and multi-disciplinary performance, Roundhouse Performance Centre, Vancouver
2004 Museo Civico d'Arte Contemporanea di Caltagirone, Italy
2003 ANU, Exhibition, Roundhouse Performance Centre, Vancouver
2001 Pastures, YADA Gallery, Vancouver
Collections: Galleria Civica d'Arte Contemporanea di Caltagirone, Italy
Le Grenoble, l’Institut français de Naples, Italy
Publications
2016 Fuori dall'Ombra (images for previous year)
2014 Io Sono il Mio Grido, Pinacoteca Albertina, Torino
2011 The Certainty of Shadow, Catalog, Edizioni Kalòs, Palermo
Publication of photographic work:
2009 Charade - Cultural magazine, Siracusa, Italy
2007 Le Sabord - Literary/visual arts magazine, Quebec, Canada
2002 Catalogue - Festival del Cinema di Frontiera, Marzamemi, Italy
2002 Ripe Magazine - online photo magazine based in B.C., Canada
Publication of graphic work:
2013 Catalog - Alone Together, Palermo
2003 Catalog - Dell’Invisibile, Siracusa, Italy
Video/Documentaries:
2011 The Certainty of Shadow
Video installation with the poet Adonis and the Italian artist Maurizio Ruggiano
2005 Paul Courtin, Voyage à Ischia, commissioned by
l’Association des Amis de Paul Courtin
1998 Co-Director/Producer w/ David Chow
Distant Sounds, The Story of Qiu Xia He
Designing Gereb
MAI, Alive and Kicking
A 2014 version of the The Certainty of Shadow plus the former three documentaries are distributed by Moving Images Distribution, Vancouver
Performances:
2016 Mme Blatterfly, a community based musical by Matilde Politi, Cantieri Culturali Palermo
2015 Il Principe, Andrea Cusumano, Tratro Garibaldi, Palermo
2014 Butoh Doublebass, Io Sono il Mio Grido, Palazzo Sant'Elia, Palermo
2014 Suona Santo Subito, Associazione Musicale Curva Minore, Instituto Cervantes, Palermo
2013 Macerie, Chiesa del Giglio, Palermo
2010 Riso & Riso, voice improvisation, Associazione Musicale Curva Minore, Palermo
2003 & 2005 ANU, multidisciplinary performance (voice and visuals)
Roundhouse Performance Centre, Vancouver, Canada
Musical Encounters:
2012 Organized a Workshop and concerts for Necati Celik, Turkish Oud musician
2014 Organized the concert Carrefour de la Mediterranée
2015 Curator and initiator of the musical project "Constantinople Encounters Sicily"
exploring connections between Persian, Arab and Sicilian musical traditions, Palermo, Marsala,
Panarea