Bodies of Memory with Erica Stocking and Delphi

Transform a meaningful piece of fabric into a surreal sculptural creation in this playful workshop exploring memory and imagination. Workshop Information Oakville Galleries is pleased to present Bodies of Memory with Erica Stocking and Delphi, an experimental workshop inviting participants to dip below the surface of their conscious minds to explore memory and the material resonance of fabric through a playful metamorphosis of form. Participants are asked to bring a garment or piece of fabric that holds personal significance. Perhaps the item is a cherished piece of clothing, or one you’ve never liked but been unable to get rid of because it was gifted by a loved one. Maybe it’s a scrap from an old baby blanket, a handkerchief from a grandparent, a piece of fabric sitting on your sewing shelf for years you’ve never found the right use for it. All of these are surfaces that carry memory, meaning and unseen histories of labour. How might these surfaces form into bodies that carry the weight of memory differently? A mantle is both an outer cloak and the massive middle layer of rock in the earth. Moving from a surface covering a bodily memory to the deep work of being the form, what is the figurative responsibility (also a mantle) passed down in the ecology of your fabric? Engaging with and expanding upon surrealist themes in Aideen Barry’s exhibition Silent Songs, the workshop will start with a presentation by Stocking’s co-collaborator, the doll Delphi, exploring transformation, desire and memory reflected in her own life and those of her surrealist counterparts. From there the workshop will move into a guided meditation focused on accessing the inner unconscious of the fabric and the bodily form it might take through a forensic and aleatory approach to memory and material. Participants will then use a range of materials and techniques supported by Stocking to bring the figures to life. Throughout the session, Delphi will be present for one on one consultations with the emerging creations. At the end of the workshop participants will photograph the newly emerged figures in the landscape surrounding Gariloch Gardens, anchoring these figures on the land and in our memory anew. Program Details Dates: Saturday, November 21, 2026 Time: 2:00 PM and 4:00 PM Location: 1306 Lakeshore Road East, Oakville, ON Capacity: 20 participants, free workshop with pre-registration required This program is developed as part of a parallel program of talks and workshops in conjunction with Aideen Barry’s solo exhibition Silent Songs. Both Stocking and Barry revisit Surrealist feminist ideals, exploring transformation, the unconscious, and the shifting relationship between bodies, labour, objects, and land. Stocking’s experimental approach to sculpture and performance invites participants to engage with memory, loss, and myth in a tactile and performative manner, extending the experience and themes of Barry’s artworks into a shared, participatory process. This program is curated and supported by Interim Executive Director, Jenifer Papararo, and Public Programs & Engagement Manager, Isabella Springett. For more information on Silent Songs please visit our website. About Erica Stocking Erica Stocking is an artist working at the intersection of sculpture, performance and installation to recognize and reorganize relations to, with, and in the world through ongoing explorations of labour, gender and value. At the centre of her practice is an engagement with materials and a recognition that the material world is a threshold between what is seen and unseen. Her current work Delphi and I explores an internal or psychic threshold between self and other, subject and object, expressed in the entwined histories of capitalism, psychoanalysis and women’s labour. Delphi is a life-sized doll that emerged in Stocking’s studio practice and has become a collaborator and sounding board as we navigate non-human sentience in an era of artificial intelligence. Stocking’s work has been exhibited in galleries across Canada including Artspeak, Mercer Union, and the Contemporary Art Gallery among others. Her public artworks are part of the City of Vancouver, City of Surrey, and SFU Community Trust Collections. She is based in Tkaronto/Toronto and is currently a PhD candidate in Visual Arts at York University.