Small Gestures is a visual script of movements that communicate care. The outstretched palm offers support, the other is cupped, ready to receive it. The images of these repeated movements speak to the many small gestures that happen in a relationship or within community. Many times they are offered to each other, many times they are received. Here, both our hands have been photographed outstretched towards and away from each other, sometimes only visible as shadows. 

 

Small Gestures also asks the audience to be more careful. They must lean in close and focus in order to see the 1 cm x 1.5 cm photographs. In this way, we are asking the audience to both receive the work, and also offer us a prolonged moment of their attention. 

 

Both of us are working in the neighbourhood of Pointe-Saint Charles, in Montreal, Quebec. Selina as a nanny and Mea at a community centre. The nature of both our jobs have their roots in acts of care - caregiving, caretaking, striving for the wellbeing of those in our community. These photographs were taken on a sunny evening after work, in and around Pointe-Saint Charles. Small Gestures was exhibited at our apartment gallery in Montreal, in 2018. The photographs were framed alone and in sets of two, accompanied by magnifying glasses.