Self Reflection

Aretha Laverne

I am a mixed media artist who employs various paint and ink mediums to construct narratives often associated with folk art traditions. My artistic journey revolves around crafting and sharing images that tell stories, enriching the cultural landscape of the art world. Drawing inspiration from African motifs and patterns, such as the ‘Sankofa’ bird, I explore moments of vulnerability in the pursuit of self-discovery.

In each painted background, my process is experimental—a subtle interplay of layers between paints and glosses, inviting viewers into a dreamlike realm. This complexity mirrors the intricate decisions made during experiences that shape individual identity. While my artistic intentions may not be immediately apparent, they choreograph a dance of perception, encouraging viewers to follow my lead while interpreting the two-dimensional imagery through their own unique lens. 

Matthew Stewart

I am drawn to the cyclic relationship between memory, trauma, and place. I find myself drawn to the way these relationships inform identity; how one can translate a collection of personal impressions into their own symbolic language. I’ve begun to focus on the impact that the past can have on personal identity. Like a stain, the past permanently alters the fabric of our memory.

As a critical analysis, I often find myself considering the symbolic structure of my identity during the creation of my work, as well as being forced to confront the rationalization of my own trauma. In choosing specific personal experiences, I have allowed them to continue to inform my creative path, like a dog chasing its own tail in an endless pursuit of a tangible and understood part of the self.

I keep a myriad of supplies on hand, and attempt to let intuition inform the development of any given work; a process that may appear erratic from an observer’s point of view, but for me functions as a process of introspection. Acrylic, charcoal, and pastels are my usual materials of choice, which I supplement with handmade pigments sourced from a variety of local and personal sources. My surfaces vary from traditional canvas, to discarded plywood and old fabric. These surfaces have a life of their own, adding to the depth and meaning of the work. The subjects of my work are referenced from a combination of family photographs and personal memory, which are then transplanted into present-day landscapes and collages. Overall, my practice is a journey into my own symbolic language, of place and memory and yet, the more I articulate this language, the more I realize it may be speaking to the collective as much as the individual.

Aurel Tchoumo Tsafack

My artwork is a contemplation, a research on my African cultural identity, which is gradually being wiped out by technology, pollution, and abusive exploitation of my birth land. It is also a questioning on the colonial education imposed on my childhood and that of many other youths in Africa by the colonial masters.

To express these ideas, I chose mixed media because it allows me more freedom to navigate through these complex ideas of mine. More so, when I assemble different found objects it usually paves the paths to other ideas hence making found objects a great source of inspiration for my art. It is sometimes during the assembly process that my creativity expands just like an orchestra playing and building on different notes which ends up producing soothing auditory jazz sounds.

Vibrant colors have always been one of the major ways by which African culture is expressed. In my work colors inherently have a symbolic nature in many areas as they represent a variety of emotions, traditions, spirituality and victories. For example, Yellow and gold represent wealth, spirituality, wisdom, fertility and beauty. Black stands for royalty, maturity, spiritual energy and death. Blue on its part, is love, abundance, harmony and togetherness. Similarly, I use vibrant colors to give life to my paintings despite the fact that they depict the dark stories of colonialism, economic exploitation, and slavery, which are systematically hidden today.

In addition, I reinterpret old masters artworks using “black” figures and african symbols to captivate my audience and engage them in a discussion with the piece. Doing so is also a means for me to revive black art which was for centuries underlooked and not given its right value. For centuries, Africa has experienced turmoil which has led to the loss of a big portion of her culture leaving many african youth today like me in search for their lost identity.

Kelsey Holzli

Kelsey Holzli is a queer artist born in Calgary, Alberta, who currently resides in Grande Prairie, Alberta. They have a foundation in painting with oil and acrylic that has evolved to incorporate mixed media sculpture. Living in and near rural communities has influenced themes of nature, death, identity, and trauma found in their work. Kelsey graduated from Northwestern Polytechnic from the Visual Arts and Design program in 2017, and they continue their studies as part of the Special Projects in Studio Disciplines course.

My work depicts the human body with animalistic and supernatural qualities. I am inspired by folklore, death positivity and reclamation of nature. The darker themes in my work invite the viewer to contemplate their own mortality and connections to their inner and outer world. My work explores connections between the self, spiritual and natural world. I invite the viewer to engage in introspection as healing the self can help in healing the collective.

I combine painting and sculpture with found materials, exploring texture through adding and subtracting. Mediums I use are paper clay, polymer clay, acrylic, oil, watercolor, gouache. My work can be described as emotionally expressive, whimsical, with an ethereal atmosphere. I use an intuitive approach to my work while delving into emotions and themes I am wanting to express. My work is an outlet for my own past trauma, gender and sexual identity as a late-diagnosed neurodivergent, non-binary person.