Visual arts & new media

About the artwork

This fibre artwork consists of plastic sequins and polyester thread on fabric.

This artwork is included in the Here & Now exhibition at the Royal Alberta Museum until September 29, 2024. Learn more about the exhibition.

The AFA acquired this artwork through its Art Acquisition by Application program in 2023. This program is designed to acquire contemporary works of art by any eligible Alberta artist.

Artist statement

View this artist's statement as a PDF.

SPECIAL NEEDS was a label I resented as a child with a learning disability. I’ve reimagined this term into a dazzling, shimmering message of acceptance for diversity.

By rescuing words that made me feel alienated for being different, I’ve turned them into a sequin encrusted, packed to the max, full on acknowledgement, that what makes us different, makes us special.

About the artist

Esther was born in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada on November 20th, 1976.

Esther's Artwork utilizes common and found materials to narrate a metaphorical parallel reflection of her life and of her surroundings. The subjects depicted in her work highlight objects, images, and texts that are most often over looked and considered unimportant. She is known for the great amount of attention and care she gives to each construction. 

About the artwork

The artwork consists of a lightbox, a 40 x 40 inch print on backlit film paper, situated it between two pieces of plexiglass. The lightbox is created from salvaged scraps of wood a shop at the Banff Centre, cut to make a 41 x 5 x 41 box. The work is illuminated by LED strip lights located at the back of the photograph. 

This artwork is included in the Here & Now exhibition at the Royal Alberta Museum until September 29, 2024. Learn more about the exhibition.

The AFA acquired this artwork through its Art Acquisition by Application program in 2023. This program is designed to acquire contemporary works of art by any eligible Alberta artist.

Artist statement

The following is an excerpt of Nahanni McKay's artist statement. Read the full artist statement.

My work, Hole 8 at the Banff Springs Fairmont Golf Course, represents how the national park system is a colonial structure that prioritizes tourism over sacred Indigenous lands and wildlife of turtle island. Challenging myself in my photography, I used 120mm film for the first time dubious of how the film would turn out. Using the skulls of deer, cougars and bears I positioned these sacred items on the Hole 8 to create an uneasy looking creature.

About the artist

Nahanni McKay is a Métis artist based in Banff Alberta. Nahanni produces photographic images of objects that take the shape of spirits around her home of Treaty 7 in the Rocky Mountains of Alberta. The work she has produced aims to discuss the need to decolonize the complicated National Park system. Her work is in relation to the human impact of the natural environment by creating an unsettling image to be observed by the viewer. McKay is mesmerized by the beauty of her hometown and how the mountains attract a colonial desire to commercialize and conquer this sacred place.

Since graduating from the Emily Carr University of Art and Design in 2017, Nahanni McKays’ photographic and sculptural work has been exhibited extensively across Canada and Europe. Recent exhibitions include Hole 8 at the European Cultural Centre, (Venice) and  Loop 14 was exhibited at the Contemporary Calgary as well as Art Toronto in 2020. McKay has received several awards including the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Emerging Artist Award in 2022. The artist's work is included in the permanent collection of the Alberta Foundation of the Arts.

Nahanni is an avid skier and has taken part in a film project called Beyond Begbie, being released February 2024.

About the artwork

The three vessels made using wild clay collected in Eastend, Saskatchewa. They were fired using a gas kiln schedule developed by the artist that acts like an atmospheric time machine. The atmosphere in the kiln is programmed to follow the path of oxygen from present day to 4.5 billion years ago. (More information about this process included in the artist's statement below.)

This artwork is included in the Here & Now exhibition at the Royal Alberta Museum until September 29, 2024. Learn more about the exhibition.

The AFA acquired this artwork through its Art Acquisition by Application program in 2023. This program is designed to acquire contemporary works of art by any eligible Alberta artist.

Artist statement

The following is an excerpt of Lauren Chipeur's artist statement. Read the full statement.

I make sculpture and site responsive installations that explore the connections between humans, waste, industry, technology and the environment. My current research explores ceramic and everyday materials to reflect on the parallel and opposing belief systems about our shared material realities. In mixing consumer products, plants, waste and geological materials my practice works towards untangling or distilling new ways to know things. The minerals our bodies absorb from the food we eat are the same minerals that make up a ceramic glaze. By tracing material lineages and biographies I try to understand a world that is concealed from view, from the interior of the body or smartphone to industrial resource extraction and production. "everything it had to swallow to make itself" unearths the relationship between the body, geology and deep time.

Artist profile

Lauren Chipeur is an artist born in Edmonton, Canada, on Treaty 6 territory, and based in Calgary, Canada, on Treaty 7 Territory.

She makes material and site-responsive sculpture that engages ceramic processes as a way to untangle or distill new ways to know things.

About the artworks

These large prints capture the aftermath of a 2017 wildfire in Waterton Lakes National Park. (Click arrows above on either side of the image to see each work.)

These artworks are included in the Here & Now exhibition at the Royal Alberta Museum until September 29, 2024. Learn more about the exhibition.

The AFA acquired these two artworks through its Art Acquisition by Application program in 2023. This program is designed to acquire contemporary works of art by any eligible Alberta artist.

Artist statement

The following is an excerpt of Han Sungpil's artist statement. Read the full statement. 

I wanted to capture the almighty restoring force of nature at the affected site out to the audiences. While this piece delivers awe of nature to the viewers through artistic expression of the event in 2017, the compelling message that it also carries is the impact of environmental devastation which awakens advocacy for environmental protection for the public.

About the artist

Han Sungpil practices art mainly by means of photography, video, and installations, covering subjects such as environmental issues, originality and imagine, history, and the relation between the real and the represented. He also enjoys understanding diverse cultures and exploring nature further interpreting our everyday world. Sungpil’s sensibility in his work often includes a sense of humor, while including sublime elements of beauty.

His works have been exhibited and collected at notable museums and biennials around the world, including U.S.A, France, Germany, England, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Russia, Slovakia, Lithuania, U.A.E, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Cuba, Argentina, Mongolia, Japan, China and Korea.

About the artwork

Creature from the Depths, is a mixed media ledger drawing made using a variety of media and paper ephemera as collage.

This artwork is included in the Here & Now exhibition at the Royal Alberta Museum until September 29, 2024. Learn more about the exhibition.

The AFA acquired this artwork through its Art Acquisition by Application program in 2023. This program is designed to acquire contemporary works of art by any eligible Alberta artist.

Artist statement

The following is an excerpt of Michael Leeb's artist statement. Read the full statement.

Creature from the Depths is a mythical storm creature conjured from an imaginative act of drawing and collage inspired by artistic pareidolia and the use of a vintage nautical map of the pacific Westcoast. This piece is intended to be a metaphorical allusion to colonialism and transformation as depicted by the storm creature devouring a tall ship.

About the artist

Michael J. Leeb is a métis visual artist, writer, and poet (Chippewa Cree/German). Michael is a printmaker (drypoint copper etchings), a papermaker, and creates mixed media drawings/ink paintings and artist books.

His work is included in the collections of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, the Bruce Peel Special Collections Library of the University of Alberta, Medalta Potteries, and the Ino-Cho Paper Museum (Japan).

About the artwork

Like Me is a series of spray-painted portraits on wooden assemblages made from construction materials that celebrates artists who practice their craft in Edmonton. The reference images for the portraits were sourced from each artist’s social media feed and the materials are "purposely scrappy, as if they pulled off the street."

This artwork is part of a larger series of portraits by AJA Louden entitled Like Me.

This artwork was included in the Here & Now exhibition at the Royal Alberta Museum from April 17 to September 29, 2024. Learn more about the exhibition.

The AFA acquired this artwork through its Art Acquisition by Application program in 2023. This program is designed to acquire contemporary works of art by any eligible Alberta artist.

Artist statement:

The following is an excerpt of AJA Louden's artist statement. Read the full statement.

Elsa Robinson is a multifaceted artist and the matriarch of a family of important Edmonton artists. Elsa’s sculptural textile works, paintings and collages exploring representations of Black families are particularly inspiring.

As an educator and workshop facilitator, much of Elsa’s life work has involved making art and artistic practices accessible to communities in a way I wish I’d felt as a youth. Two of her children, Shima and Judah, are prolific artists in their own rights, and seeing Elsa’s expanding legacy imbued in her own lineage helped me understand the undeniable value of nurturing and nourishing emerging talent.

Artist profile

AJA Louden  (AJA sounds like 'Ajay', short for Adrian Joseph Alexander) is an artist based in amiskwaciwâskahikan (Treaty 6, Edmonton, Alberta). Born to a family tree with roots split between Jamaica and Canada, Louden is a child of contrast.

Bold and arresting freehand spray-painted portraits of pop culture figures from Jimi Hendrix and Richard Nixon to local heroes like Rollie Miles often alternate with hand-lettered designs and vibrant patterns borne of a background in graffiti. Louden looks to bring a multifaceted, collaborative, and multi-narrative approach to contemporary urban muralism.  

About the artwork

This Dama Charra represents the typical attire known as “Gran Gala” (Grand Gala), characterized by the fine and ornate traditional garments. In the competitive Charreria events, there are nine activities for men and just one for women.

This artwork is included in the Here & Now exhibition at the Royal Alberta Museum until September 29, 2024. Learn more about the exhibition.

The AFA acquired this artwork through its Art Acquisition by Application program in 2023. This program is designed to acquire contemporary works of art by any eligible Alberta artist.

Artist statement

The following is an excerpt of Claudia Jimenez Chagoya's artist statement. Read the full statement. 

Damas Charras is a body of work that represents the cow folk culture in Mexico called Charrería and focuses specifically on women horse riders. The sculptures explore the rich traditions and guidelines that the Damas Charras need to follow for official social events, as well as executing tricks on horses during competitions. This series aims to showcase and elevate the role of these female figures in a male dominated environment.

About the artist

Claudia Chagoya is a Mexican interdisciplinary artist born in Zacatecas, Mexico, and based in Calgary, Canada. She holds an MFA degree from the University of Calgary, and a BFA from Instituto Allende in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.  

About the artworks

Wei Li's artworks, Chilli Sauce and Spout Cup are part of a digital series, Vessels which explores the complex intersectionality of hybrid identity. (Click arrows above on either side of the image to see each work.)

These artworks are included in the Here & Now exhibition at the Royal Alberta Museum until September 29, 2024. Learn more about the exhibition.

The AFA acquired these two artworks through its Art Acquisition by Application program in 2023. This program is designed to acquire contemporary works of art by any eligible Alberta artist.

Artist statement

The following is an excerpt of Wei Li's artist statement Read the full statement.

In my digital series, I look for a representational possibility that combines digital aesthetics with traditional art-making sensibilities. By replacing parts of ordinary objects with the human body/skin, I create grotesque anthropomorphic hybrid containers which trigger the viewer’s visceral and emotional responses. The gestures in my works are symbolic and metaphoric. I use the body/skin as material to activate social commentary on identity, diaspora, femininity, motherhood, and popular culture.

Artist profile

Get to know Wei as she shares the stories behind her new digital series, Vessels, and a bit about herself in her AFA Artist Spotlight.

Wei Li is a Calgary-based emerging Chinese Canadian visual artist, whose experience of being a new immigrant to Canada, provides her with crucial inspiration in her artistic practice. Her dual cultural background challenges her to integrate different cultural perspectives in her works and creates tensions through the contradictions inherent in forming a new hybrid cultural identity.

Li graduated in 2017 with BFA in Painting (with Distinction) from the University of Alberta and has participated in several exhibitions and artistic residencies across Canada and the United States of America, including the Sam and Adele Golden Foundation Artist Residency in 2021. Her first major solo exhibition, Curious Things was featured in August of 2017 in the Art Incubator Gallery at Harcourt House Artist Run Centre in Edmonton.

Li was a finalist in the 2017 RBC Canadian Painting Competition with her works showcased at the National Art Gallery in Ottawa. Recently, Wei has expanded her practice to the digital medium. She was the recipient of the prestigious Emerging Digital Artist Award in 2022, and her digital works were acquired as part of the EQ Bank’s digital art collection and were presented at the Trinity Square Video in Toronto.

About the artworks

The three artworks are carved and painted woodcuts on curved oak chair backs salvaged from the renovation of the Martha Cohen Theatre in Calgary. (Click arrows above on either side of the image to see each work.)

These artworks are included in the Here & Now exhibition at the Royal Alberta Museum until September 29, 2024. Learn more about the exhibition.

The AFA acquired these three artworks through its Art Acquisition by Application program in 2023. This program is designed to acquire contemporary works of art by any eligible Alberta artist.

Artist statement

Lisa Brawn is represented in the exhibition by three works. Excerpts from the artist statement for each work are below. 

Black Lagoon P.R. Reputation Laundering

Read the full statement

Black Lagoon P.R. pays homage to bottom feeder opportunists who are able to spin outrageously heinous actions into victimization and even saintliness. We can buy a team of lawyers and communications specialists to re-characterize our ruthless pillaging and carpet bombing as innocuous oatmeal cookies and daisy garlands. Maximalist Public Relation absurdities are an integral component of a dystopian mediascape, and low hanging fruit for parody. 

HELLO, my name is: Fact-based Reality

Read the full statement.

With each of us in our bespoke algorithm-funnelled information silos, the concept of fact-based reality feels like a quaint relic. So elusive yet plausible, it could only be represented as a mythical beast. Is it real? Was it ever real? Once upon a time? Only in Paradise? 

Risk Management for Introverts

Read the full statement.

Here is a viable coping mechanism as demonstrated by The Invisible Man ca. 1933. This one is personal. I have to devise elaborate workarounds to present myself non-anonymously in public. I am predisposed to introversion, and the world is particularly unsafe for LGBTQ2, which I discovered personally by coming out in high school in the 80s. 

About the artist

Lisa Brawn is a Calgary based artist specializing in painted woodcut blocks. Her work is in public collections such as The Alberta Foundation for the Arts, Calgary Civic Art Collection, and The University of Lethbridge collection, as well as in private collections across Canada, Europe, and the United States. Her work has been featured on banners for Calgary Bridges, Calgary Parks, and Fort Calgary, and there is a large scale permanent installation of her woodblocks at Inglewood’s Festival Hall.

A major component of Lisa’s art practice has been exploring the possibilities for alternative art venues and project spaces. Starting in 2001, her artmobile in a 1935 vintage travel trailer was followed by an art salon in Calgary’s Grain Exchange building. Lisa then collaborated with Milo Dlouhy and Angela Inglis to transform a downtown warehouse into an artist-run gallery and Museum of Oddities.

In 2007, Brawn, Dlouhy, and Inglis collaborated on a storefront museum in Art Central, and in 2009 and 2010, Brawn and Inglis collaborated with Jane Grace on an interdisciplinary project space in a hundred year old cottage. In 2009 Brawn transformed a 1962 Airstream into a second mobile gallery, The Bambi Media Machine, which was featured in the film “I Liked You Better Before” directed by Michal Lavi. From 2007 to 2012, Lisa curated a window gallery with Inglis and Grace, known as La Fenêtre.

In her twenty year career as a professional artist, Lisa has been featured in 25 solo exhibitions and participated in more than 40 group exhibitions from Victoria, Seattle and Los Angeles, to Halifax, Chicago and New Orleans. She received international attention for her large scale interactive, solar-powered sculptural installation, Helios, at the Leighton Art Centre, which was featured on CBC’s As It Happens, and picked up by media outlets from Canada to Brazil.