Maryanna Hardy: While You Were Away

While You Were Away
Illustrations by Maryanna Hardy

“While you were away, I stayed awake. I saw all the colors come together to become black. I could whistle up to the spectres, who float down and glide through us. ”

Working with paintbrush, ink and paper, Maryanna Hardy takes a visual inventory of the events taking place on any given night. She uses her own personal mythos of nighttime as her guidelines; the park you should not walk through alone and the northern lights you should never whistle at… and what happens when you do.

Nighttime carries its own set of emotions that evoke a different type of behaviour. It contains fear and curiosity, a tranquility that is almost violent, and a feeling of excitement for what you can’t see or possibly know.

“While You Were Away” is Maryanna’s first solo show in Toronto.