There comes a time in everyone’s life when they’re old enough to hear the bits about the family history they were never told before because they were too young and the histories too dark.

Like many Canadians, my parents were not born here. This past summer I returned to my family’s ancestral village in the Açores Islands and was inspired to make concrete my own hybrid identity by exploring my mother’s immigrant experience.

A dialogue between sculptural works and paintings reflects this process of reconciling the two cultures. Visual markers such as recurring shapes, colours and materials, solidify the narrative that explores my frustration of being torn between loyalties.

My work also explores the urban landscape as a site where ideologies fight for space and where identities are created. By exploring the past, I hope to resolve this postmodern predicament and conjure the confidence to embrace a multicultural identity.

Photo by artist