Exhibition History
CURRENT WORKS > The Upwellings
A Large-format Cyanotype Series & Digital Critique- moving into Phase Two in 2026
In oceanography, an upwelling occurs when wind and rotation displace surface waters, allowing deep, cold, nutrient-rich currents to rise. This enriched water is the primary driver of productivity, providing the essential nutrients that allow an entire ecosystem to thrive.
In our social context, The Upwellings asserts that the accumulated knowledge of women functions as a similar stabilizing nutrient. It is the perspective and long-term memory held in the depths of lived experience that provide cultural resilience. When we "edit out" the markers of a woman’s life, we starve the social ecosystem of the data needed to navigate our complex future.
Discovery & Conceptual Proofs (Phase One)
The images displayed here are the initial conceptual proofs emerging from a two-year period (2023-2025) of research , development, and community consultation. This phase served as a dedicated discovery period where I sought a visual language capable of challenging the systemic erasure of women’s lived experience—a bias I feel acutely as I enter my 50s. These works represent my first attempt to bridge historical and modern image-making mediums, testing the tension between the hand-crafted/analog and the artifically developed digital components.
During this process of deep R&D, a powerful undercurrent was revealed to me: the visceral reality of biological continuity. This generational awakening, sparked by the experience of reconnecting with my biological daughter, clarified the project’s grounding in maternal lineage—the unbroken genetic chain that carries wisdom across time. These visual proofs are the first step in reclaiming the visual space where this inherited knowledge resides and demands visibility.
Provocation & Necessity
The urgency of this work was validated by my unsettling encounters with AI and social media. An image generator automatically "corrected" my self-portrait, stripping away pounds and decades of lived experience without instruction. This unsolicited edit reinforced a systemic reality recently documented by researchers at Stanford and Berkeley (2025): AI systematically portrays women as younger and less authoritative than men. Studies published in Nature (October 2025) confirm that algorithms amplify age-gender bias, frequently treating the markers of a woman’s life as "noise" or "errors" to be deleted. The Upwellings uses AI technology to expose its own biases, providing a vital entry point for discourse around gender equity and technological ethics.
My subsequent social media experiment confirmed the cultural divide. I posted the AI-generated images of me to my personal Meta profiles (which is primarily dedicated to food, travel, and my dog, not vanity posts). While the fake youthful images garnered record reactions and public praise from men, in contrast it drew private policing and criticism from women around my age. It affirmed the necessity of creating The Upwellings as a deliberate visual counter-narrative.
Technical Development
By merging the ancient, deeply rooted craft of the Cyanotype with the digital AI realm, I explore the social relevance of the accumulation of time across life and technology.
The slow, primal craft of the historical cyanotype process (which relies on fundamental forces like sunlight and water) grounds the work in elemental truth and the weight of history. Conversely, by actively inserting the diversity of female form into AI systems, the project forces a confrontation with the very technology with the potential to erase or build authenticity. The use of digital/AI image generation/treatment is a deliberate conceptual choice: it represents the velocity of modern visual culture and acts as the critical mirror where ageism is currently being codified into new technologies. This powerful tension between the old (truth) and the new (potential bias) is central to the work's critique and physicality.
Much like the invention of photography in the 19th century, AI is an inevitable shift in our visual landscape. The question is not whether to use AI, but how to govern it.
The Upwellings is rooted in courage, not fear: aging represents the full realization of lived experience and an authority that transcends trend, and new technology in art must be engaged because it is the arena where the future of visual culture is currently being decided. Both are evolutionary forces that demand active, informed participation and dialogue, inviting us to move beyond binary reactions and develop policies and practices that protect authentic representation.
The Activation of Phase Two (2026)
Phase Two is coming to life through the participation of nearly 40 women—mentors and leaders who have fundamentally shaped my path.
Ethical Portraiture: Each portrait is a collaborative narrative. I have invited women with established public profiles alongside those whose vital labor as mothers and caregivers has anchored our communities. This series also honours those denied formal education by an era of male-preference, elevating domestic stewardship to its rightful status.
Technical Tension as Critique: The work will build on original portraits and continue to fuse cyanotypes with modern AI treatment.
Mastery & Global Discourse: The series will be finalized and printed as monumental 24" x 24" prints during a residency at Aviário Studio in Portugal (October 2026). This international exchange will culminate in the project’s first public exhibition and artist talk there, with early planning and interest already underway with Canadian galleries to follow.
What is a Cyanotype?
A cyanotype is an early photographic printing process, dating back to the 1840s, famous for its striking monochromatic Prussian blue colour. It is a highly elemental technique: materials (like paper or fabric) are first coated with light-sensitive iron salts and then exposed directly to sunlight to create the image, which is fixed using only water.
Far from a mechanical print, each of my cyanotype images is a unique, handcrafted result that fuses the old and the new.
The process begins in the darkroom, where I personally mix the light-sensitive chemicals and apply them to the surface which can take a few days. I then create analog negatives—printed onto large transparency film—from digitized pure or altered images. Because cyanotype is a contact print process, the final image on the paper is always the same size as the negative laid directly upon it. This deliberate choice connects the image-making to the passage of time and place.
The final image quality is never entirely predictable and is a direct collaboration with nature. No two images are alike, as the final color density and detail are determined by variables like the location and intensity of the sun, the precise timing of the exposure (sometimes lasting 10-20 minutes per image), and the density and spread of the chemical solution on the paper. This deliberate embrace of chance and elemental forces ensures that every print carries the unmistakable mark of its creation.
PAST WORKS > Inventory of Public Record, Exhibtions & Installations
2024
May 30 | The Errors Tour (Group Exhibition): Unveiled a potent cyanotype on fabric confronting personal loss and physical transformation (replacement of my hip joint) within a collaborative evening of visual art, poetry, and storytelling focused on navigating grief and loss. (99ten open space, Edmonton).
2023
September 10 | Coastal Cyan (Solo/Series Exhibition): Installed a seminal series of original cyanotypes on cotton rag paper exploring the slow, restorative unravelling of pressure, healing, and reclamation achieved through immersion in the Northwest Pacific Coast. (Studio 2H, Tsawout First Nation).
2021–Present
April 2021 | The Wistful Bite (Photographic Series): Developed and continue to exhibit a photographic series that moves beyond "foodie culture" to examine the deeper intersection of nourishment, memory, cultural anthropology, and migration theory.
2006–Present
Photochat (Collaborative Blog & Book Series): Co-authored and maintained this long-running photographic dialogue with artist Jay Proctor, establishing the concept of photographs as a conversational language that transcends linguistic barriers.
2022
November | The Secret Lives of Colour (Short Film): Produced an evocative photographic/visual montage documenting the intimate creative process of musical composer François Houle for the Modulus Festival (Vancouver), used extensively for promotion.
2021
September | The Secret Lives of Colour (Commissioned Short Film): Conceptualized, produced, and directed this visual short film, a prestigious commission by the Pierre Boulez Saal (Berlin), documenting composer François Houle’s artistic journey toward his world premiere.
2013
September | Knowledge to Action Forum (Curatorial Project): Designed and curated a major multimedia exhibition, synthesizing three years of archival content from a national program spanning seven major Canadian cities, for United Nations Association in Canada. (Toronto).
2010
Spring | Italy in Blue (Group Exhibition): Featured handcrafted cyanotype contact prints depicting lyrical scenes from Northern Italy, exhibited as part of a collective show of Ortona studio arts residents. (Ortona Gallery, Edmonton).
2004
Autumn | Tajikistan, An Introduction (Solo Exhibition): Presented a rich multimedia installation—combining photography, literature, regional textiles, music, and a 16mm film piece—to introduce viewers to the culture of Tajikistan. (Ortona Gallery, Edmonton; Athabasca University).
2003
July | Art For Venue (Group Exhibition): Contributed C-prints of travel documentary images from Western Europe to this curated mixed-media collection, founded on the premise that quality art belongs to the masses outside formal gallery spaces. (Edmonton).
2002
June | Looking Back (International Curatorial Project): Conceptualized, promoted, and curated this expansive international photo exhibition, successfully recruiting 28 photographers from 10+ global cities for a self-portrait collection. (De Melkfabriek Artspace, s’-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands).
2001
July | Impure II, the Second Coming (Juried Group Show): Installed the evocative photographic installation “The Blue Cycle,” featuring underwater and Grecian imagery mounted within custom-designed spherical MDF frames (Shaun McNaughton). (Citadel Theatre, Edmonton).
April | M: the Dance (Solo Installation & Fundraiser): Conceptualized, produced, and promoted this first solo photo-based installation, which successfully raised approximately $20,000 in private sector funds and in-kind support. (Ortona Gallery, Edmonton).
January- present | Identisketch: This is an ongoing, autobiographical photographic series documented in black and white film, creating a visual archive of the artist's life across numerous residences and changing geographies. The project explores the stability of the self amidst continuous displacement by featuring the artist holding a hand-drawn self-portrait sketch over their face in every location; this sketch functions as the fixed symbol of an unwavering core identity that persists regardless of external, physical change.
2000
June–July | fetish object (Juried Group Show): Selected for the Edmonton Works festival, featuring photographic-based digital imagery printed directly onto fabric. (SNAP Gallery, Edmonton).
July | Impure (Juried Group Show): Jury selected for this collective show, exhibiting two distinct collections: digital compilations transferred to silver leaf, and silver prints copper-toned and mounted on wood/copper piping. (Citadel Theatre, Edmonton).
May–July | Metamorphic (Duo Exhibition): Duo exhibition with Marlena Wyman; my work featured digital compilations of human and insect images theatrically pinned in glass cases likened to an entomologist’s collection to explore contemporary fears surrounding genetic modification. (Bohemia Cyber Café, Edmonton).
Jan & Feb | Still life (Group Exhibition): Presented a collection of 25 meticulously photographed and hand-printed silver/fibre prints. (124th St. Annual Gallery Walk, Edmonton).
1999
November | Artopia (Group Exhibition & Joint Curatorial): Participated in and jointly curated a large, multidisciplinary group show of 23 artists, exhibiting silver prints. (Phillips Building Arts Collective, Edmonton).
September | Neurotica (Solo Exhibition): Exhibited a solo show utilizing oil paint and mixed media applied directly to glass windows, complemented by silver prints set in original repurposed wooden framing. (Café La Gare, Edmonton).