Current Relief Print Series: Places and Place

The work from this series explores feelings of place and of found home related to specific visual landmarks, architecture, and locations. It is informed by living on the unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish), and səl̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), specifically in so-called “Vancouver”, which is not what most would call a livable city. The prints stem from people’s processes of finding pockets of familiarity and comfort despite the nature of this city. I have gathered the imagery of these relief prints by asking for input from peers and friends on what spaces or landmarks give them a sense of comfort and home as they navigate living in an ever-developing, increasingly unaffordable urban environment.

In this series, I experimented with different carving and mark-making techniques to show the textures present in each environment. While creating these prints, I played with balancing how much visual information I kept accurate to real life, and what I could simplify in the carving process while still getting the image across. With processes ranging from extremely detailed stippling using a hammer and nail to using a carving tool to gouge chunks out of the wood block, I created textures consistent with the locales I was depicting in the prints.