Art Is All Around Us
Rosalie Favell (1958 |Canadian)
Favell is a Métis artist born in Winnipeg. Drawing inspiration from her family history and Métis heritage, she uses a variety of sources, from family albums to popular culture, to present a complex self-portrait of her experiences as a contemporary aboriginal woman. She explores issues of identity – personal and cultural. Favell’s work has been exhibited throughout Canada and across the world and her works are among many Collections including the National Gallery of Canada, Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography (Ottawa) and the Art Gallery of Algoma. She spent some time living in Sault Ste. Marie, teaching at Algoma University, currently she works and resides in Ottawa. She is recipient of many awards including prestigious Karsh award for photography.
Her series Cultural Mediations reflects upon various belief systems, primarily Buddhism and trying to better understand the spiritual issue by reflecting her own family history. In referring to the works “Kindred” Favell says:
Favell is a Métis artist born in Winnipeg. Drawing inspiration from her family history and Métis heritage, she uses a variety of sources, from family albums to popular culture, to present a complex self-portrait of her experiences as a contemporary aboriginal woman. She explores issues of identity – personal and cultural. Favell’s work has been exhibited throughout Canada and across the world and her works are among many Collections including the National Gallery of Canada, Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography (Ottawa) and the Art Gallery of Algoma. She spent some time living in Sault Ste. Marie, teaching at Algoma University, currently she works and resides in Ottawa. She is recipient of many awards including prestigious Karsh award for photography.
Her series Cultural Mediations reflects upon various belief systems, primarily Buddhism and trying to better understand the spiritual issue by reflecting her own family history. In referring to the works “Kindred” Favell says:
"Kindred” (2007) depicts me personified as a “lone wolf” in the “Near North” landscape of Ontario where I once lived. I then went off to India looking for spiritual practices other than Christianity, and found the elephant that could represent Ganesh, or “other” spirituality. I felt that that the lone wolf and the elephant were kindred spirits. The symbol on my chest represents a merging of Buddhist and Anglican religions (the latter representing my family’s faith).”