Artist Information for Fuzzy Mall
This work is part of an ongoing project, #facesofhamilton. Being a recent immigrant to Canada, I wanted to explore my new community and city of Hamilton, Ontario. I meet and interview people about themselves and the city, and photograph them during our first meeting. I use the photos as the source material to create a quilted portrait using found and reclaimed textiles. When we meet for the second time to look at the portrait together, I ask the person to nominate the next participant. Participants range from community organizers, artists, arts administrators, musicians, bloggers, brewers and a member of the city council. In effect, I am building a large quilt out of the network of people I am meeting in my new home. This current body of work is interaction driven. I take candid photos during my interactions, and try to capture the raised eyebrows, crooked smiles and waving hands that we use to communicate. It’s a response to the deluge of instagram/facebook images that we are flooded with. My goal is to tap into the tradition of quilts and painted portraits as family heirlooms by creating contemporary portraits from the casual photographs that are snapped by cell phones and live in the cloud. I am reinterpreting this fleeting imagery by slowing down the process and hand working them, rather than swiping them away with my finger. Images scroll down to view allBryna Flowers 33"x39"x3"   Martin Verrall 28.5"x42"x3"   Laura, Poppy, & Gabriel 41"x47"x3"   George Qua-Enoo 17"X27"3"   Stephanie Seagram 30"x40"x3"   |