Loved Ones in Ingonish 2022
Loved Ones in Ingonish was the initial project of various bodies of work that explore the names of loved ones. During a two month residency in the Nova Scotia Highlands National Park, located in the rural community of Ingonish, I developed a series of paintings that translated the letters of my loved ones names into colour and composition. This resulted in fifteen paintings dedicated to my family members and myself. Alongside this studio based work, I created an edition of 100 small oil and watercolour paintings on paper. These smaller pieces included representations of my entire family on one surface, using lines and dots to represent the translated letters.
These one hundred paintings were given away to members of the local community in exchange for the names of one of their loved ones. The remaining paintings were installed at the Ingonish visitor’s centre where they were offered to any visitors or residents of the area. After seven months all of the paintings had been disseminated and the exchanged names were mailed to my studio where they continue to be translated into new work. Loved Ones in Ingonish allowed me to explore the structures of love, family, and community across a broad range of contexts, including ones personal and intimate to myself, as well as ones that were new and unknown, where I approached as a stranger, welcomed in by caring and friendly people.
