What impact do you aim to create through your art?
“When I go out sketching, I look at rock formations and trees and observe how their positioning resembles certain ways that joints or major muscles form or may move. I work primarily from an eco-feminist perspective. I try to integrate human figures into the outdoor settings I happen upon and create ethereal landscapes. This also evokes the mythology of Daphne and I reclaim this narrative to sculpt stories of community connection, identity, resiliency, and compassion. I use my artwork as a platform to facilitate discussions on topics of intimate partner violence as this touches me personally. The arts are a powerful tool in the healing process and I see the potential as well in this media to provide community space and groundwork for social transformation and creative, compassionate solution building as a community on this pervasive worldwide issue. Artmaking is a beautiful, multilayered, meditative and strengthening process. When we engage in a profound depth of transformation and recognize our tangible ability to create beautiful and peaceful circumstances for ourselves, then we give power to our intrinsic abilities. There is a complex intercommunication that takes place between process, media or material, and the self that is art.”
Where are you from, and how does that affect your work?
“I’m born and raised in Montreal, or Tiohtià:ke, and am also half-Indian, however I have never been to India. Being half-Indian and half-Québecois it was important for me to incorporate an homage to my identity as these are elements that have also shaped my life experiences and my story. This brought me to being curious about finding creative and artful ways of reusing the chai spices I use in my tea. Ordinarily I would compost those materials – cinnamon sticks, ginger, nutmeg, cardamom, and so on. I had an idea of creating paper that would be olfactorily stimulating by incorporating those spices into the paper making process. I knew that this could be done with seed papers, for example, so why not with spices? After some experimentation, I now make my own upcycled chai paper that I paint my original works on.”
What was your first experience working as a professional artist?
“This is a hard and funny question for me to answer because I always joke with people that I’m basically a kid that never stopped making art. Making art is a creatively nourishing process and is essential to thinking outside of the box, solution building, and making connections. I don’t just create artworks though. I also host workshops, teach, paint murals, do community work among other things. I’d say the first workshop opportunity I had that was really profound to me was hosting a workshop for a local non-profit where we were tailoring it for young adults in a social reintegration program to potentially use artmaking as an auto-regulation tool for when they are experiencing stressful moments in their day to day. I had had people contact and purchase small commissioned works from me prior to that and those were instrumental and heartfelt to me too. But community work is also very near and dear to my heart. Since those days, I’ve had many amazing and cherished ‘first’ experiences in various art fields. I’ve had the chance to get some of my works on consignment in stores in Montreal such as Librairie L’Eugélionne. I’ve had the pleasure to collaborate with some fantastic artists and learn from their process on mural painting. I get to teach art workshops and classes for kids across Montreal, notably within the librairies network. I’ve had my work published in a few community articles and zines. I am so grateful for all the lovely community and opportunities that have come my way.”
Where do you find inspiration? Who are your biggest artistic influences?
“I’m very much inspired by the outdoors and the natural world, including the human form. I inherently view humans as nature and that we are ecosystems within ecosystems. I’m inspired by the actual materials I work with and what each of them teaches me, especially in the sense that each has its own qualities and needs to be inherently accepted just as they are to work harmoniously together. This view translates itself a lot in my professional interactions and shapes how I view and approach people holistically. I’m also inspired by artists such as Frank Frazetta, Louise Bourgeois, Maria Ezcurra, Daniel Kern, Brian Froud, Hayao Miyazaki, Cristian Zaelzer and Glenn Vilppu among others. Each of these artists inspires me either in their technical draftsmanship skills, their ethereality and subject matter explorations of myth and storytelling, their commitment to intersectional feminism and social justice through art, and their sense of whimsy and complex character explorations. Being as much of a passionate practitioner in the wellness field, I am also inspired by people such as Sarah West, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Tricia Hersey, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Carl Sagan, James Olwell, and Cathy Malchiodi among others. Their perspectives have shaped my openness and influence my ethics as well as my sustainable practices.”
What are your ideal working conditions as an artist?