Photo: Rayannah performing at Festival Changez d’Air, by Vincent Assié.
The Riding Mountain Artists’ Residency provides professional Manitoba artists with time to focus on their work in the beautiful natural setting of Riding Mountain National Park.
The next artist-in-residence for 2024 is Rayannah. Ahead of her time in the historic Deep Bay Cabin, Rayannah answered a few of our questions about her work and how she’ll be spending her residency.
MAC: Tell us a little about yourself as an artist and your practice.
Rayannah: I am a franco-manitobain musical artist, producer and beat-maker who focuses primarily on electronic music and multi-disciplinary projects. Throughout the last several years I’ve had the opportunity to tour across Canada, Europe and Latin-America and have collaborated with artists from a variety of disciplines including dance, visual and media arts, contortion and Drag.
Tell us about your project — what will you be working on in the Deep Bay Cabin?
In Riding Mountain I will be working on a new hour-long theatre piece that explores my relationship with algorithms and AI through electronic music and audio-visual performance. During my residency I will be writing and recording parts of the music which form the backbone of this new work.
What is your relationship with the park, and what are you most looking forward to exploring?
I have very fond memories of visiting Riding Mountain with my family every January when I was growing up. Since then, I’ve had the chance to go back periodically, first to write some songs with friends who were staying there several years ago, and then for a 10-day creative stay to record the bases of my first full-length album. In my adult years I have found it to be a place where I can disconnect with daily life and dive into creative projects.
How do you hope the park will influence or inspire your project or practice?
Riding Mountain in an expansive and pristine location to create in. I look forward to diving into this intensive project in such inspiring surroundings. I am also eager to see how the setting in Riding Mountain will contrast with the electronic soundscapes I am working on and the impact this might have on approaching my work.
What would you like the public and park staff to know about you and your work?
My creative approach combines acoustic and organic elements with electronic processes and methodology including beat-making, looping and synthesis. The piece I am working on is centered around my personal experience wrestling with the pressures of a modern-day society shaped more and more by artificial intelligence and algorithmic influences. Feeding my experience through electronic gear allows me to digest it and feel more ownership over it.
Anything else you’d like to share with readers and the Riding Mountain National Park community?
My musical soundscapes often originate from a variety of different starting points including found sounds, randomized prompts and old demos I’ve recorded throughout the years. The tools and limitations I’m working with determine the path I take to create beats or textures.
The Riding Mountain Artists’ Residency is offered in partnership by the Manitoba Arts Council and Riding Mountain National Park.
Interested in the staying in the Deep Bay cabin? Find out how to apply to the Riding Mountain Artists Residency through the Learn – Residencies grant stream. Apply by January 15, 2025 for a residency in the summer of 2025.
