Portraiture, for me, is an act of attentive seeing that extends beyond likeness into memory, presence, and identity. Working primarily in mixed media, I approach the human face as both a physical form and a vessel of lived experience. Each portrait is constructed through observation, intuition, and material exploration, allowing image and meaning to emerge together.
My practice is grounded in strong drawing foundations and an ongoing engagement with both classical structure and contemporary expression. I work across layered media—combining paint, drawing, texture, and collage—to reflect the complexity of identity and the ways history, emotion, and experience accumulate over time. These layered surfaces mirror the non-linear nature of personal and collective narratives, where what is revealed and what remains obscured are equally significant.
As a First Nations artist, I am conscious of the historical role portraiture has played in shaping perceptions of Indigenous peoples. My work responds to this legacy by reclaiming the portrait as a space of agency, dignity, and self-definition. Rather than describing specific individuals, my portraits often exist between representation and interpretation, allowing them to speak to shared human experience while remaining rooted in Indigenous ways of knowing that value relationship, balance, and continuity.
Process is central to my work. I am attentive to structure, gesture, and the emotional resonance of form, using light, tone, and material contrast to suggest inner life without relying on narrative specificity. Moments of abstraction are intentionally introduced, creating space for reflection and multiple readings. In this way, the portraits function not as fixed identities, but as living presences that invite sustained engagement.
In an era defined by rapid image production and consumption, my practice resists immediacy. Portraiture offers a way to slow the act of looking and to engage with the human face as something worthy of time and care. This slowing is both an artistic and cultural gesture, emphasizing depth over surface and connection over consumption.
As a Canadian artist, I see portraiture as part of an evolving cultural record. Through mixed media portraiture informed by First Nations perspectives, my work seeks to bridge tradition and contemporary practice. Ultimately, I aim to create portraits that resonate beyond resemblance—images that encourage contemplation, respect, and a deeper awareness of human presence.
