When Film and Media Technician Cameron Miller sat down with The Journal, he remarked on his incredible relationship with Serina Timperio, BFA ’18, and the experiences that shaped their journey together.
“You know, I’m at stage four [cancer], and I really want to do this,’” Timperio said to Miller. “It was a burden, but it was a burden I was happy to take on,” Miller said.
Diagnosed with an astrocytoma brain tumour in 2016, Timperio fought cancer until she ed away on Nov. 15, 2022. Now, a year later, Timperio and her art will be celebrated at the Isabel Bader Centre from Nov. 21 to Dec. 1, with a reception hosted on Nov. 24 from 4 to 7 p.m. Students, alumni, and Kingston residents are welcome to the reception and view the installation.
Timperio met Miller in 2017 looking for help on her film project, where they found an instant chemistry that Miller said can’t be put into words.
“You’re always looking for people that click. You can work with lots of people and get something right, but it’s important to find someone who finishes your sentences when you’re talking about ideas. We clicked in that way almost right away,” Miller said.
Timperio’s brain worked differently than other artists, Miller recounted, and so he kept in with her after her graduation in 2018.
“You can see it in her paintings. You can see it in the sculpture. So, the brain cancer was a curse, but in some ways, it was also a gift artistically.”
Timperio was dynamic, Miller said. She could change her facial expression within a minute of shooting a photo, a talent Miller hadn’t often experienced as a photographer. Her unique ability to depict different expressions demonstrated the flexibility of her art not only in content and theme but also in the mediums she used.
Miller found joy in Timperio’s approach to the relationship between personal experience and art, vividly recalling her work with AstroTurf and dreams.
AstroTurf is a synthetic material most often used as the ground surface for sports games and will be showcased at the show.
Timperio had unexplainable dreams which she would write down and then cut into strips and hang them around three mirrors.
Each strip of AstroTurf represented a piece of her dream as they framed a mirror. When one looked in the mirror, they could see themselves surrounded by fragments of someone’s dreams.
The exhibition at the Isabel will feature a range of Timperio’s art, including one of Miller’s favourites: her painting of goats, which sparked their first project together after her graduation.
Timperio would boil goat bones to make soup while undergoing cancer treatment as a way to elevate her immunity.While she cooked, the bones’ curves fascinated her and she set them aside to create a painting.
“I thought this was a neat cycle. She’s consuming the goats to help her immunity, and she’s using that energy to produce art. Then the goats are coming out of the art,” Miller said.
The cyclical nature of Timperio’s artistic process inspired Miller to think of ways to blend Timperio and her art. They worked on the installations for the show together, utilizing Miller’s photography skills and Timperio’s portfolio of art.
Miller decided to use a projector image of Timperio’s art, placing that image on top of another image of her body. Miller then took photos of the two subjects, Timperio as the artist and the painting or sculpture as the art, so they could be shown in one image.
The photographs encomed Miller’s perspective of Timperio’s art as something cyclical and showcased her presence in the art despite her death.
In the Isabel’s film room, he spoke about how it was a very tough project, illuminated by a singular overhead light above the foldup table haphazardly placed in the center of the room. There was a heavy silence as he explained the importance of this project not only for Timperio, but for him as Timperio’s colleague and friend.
“It felt special because she trusted me with this project because it is quite intimate. Finally, there was not going to be a second chance,” Miller said.
“We shot the project in two days. The first day was more of a friends and family thing to make sure she was comfortable, and we did the shoot. We got through the shoot, and at the end of it, she was just crying.”
Miller said he looked at her and thought they were done, but Timperio said no, and wanted the image of her crying to be a part of the installation’s experience.
“This is the emotion that needs to be captured. One of the final pieces people will see is a picture of her seated in a chair, but she doesn’t look happy, because she isn’t,” Miller said.
The installation completes Timperio’s bucket list, one last chance to get it all done before the cancer had caught up to her.
But for Miller, it was an agreement.
“We’re doing the show a year after her death, and it ties together my promise to her that there would be a show, and that’s why it’s important,” Miller said.
The installation celebrates Timperio’s legacy as an artist, but the show’s central theme is her vulnerability.
“The big thing about it is that the disease chooses anybody. We are all ‘naked in front of this threat,’” Miller said.
Timperio’s page to raise money for cancer research is here.
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