As is well known in the back rooms of the Canadian art world, for every artist who makes it there are hundreds of incredibly talented creatives making amazing objects outside of the often garish glare of the white cube. Kajola is one such artist. Now it's been pointed out to me that I tend towards the effusive when I describe the folks I shoot: hey, I'm an enthusiastic guy. That said, I want to make it perfectly clear that Ms. Morewood is, in my humble opinion, one of the most talented, prolific and original artists working on the West coast today.
Kajola recently received a First People's Heritage, Language, and Culture Council Aboriginal Arts Development Award and when she called me up to help document her project I was honoured to say the least.
Working in the same conceptual vein as artists like Lawrence Paul Yuxwelupten, Brian Jungen and Sonny Assu, Kajola uses materials and images that are related to her Inuit heritage in a manner that directly relates to her European Canadian upbringing (or vice versa). For this particular project she is sewing a patchwork quilt out of the skins of animals that are traditionally found in the Canadian arctic.
Not normally being a fan of fur I was initially challenged by the project. However, after spending an afternoon shooting the artist at work I was easily won over: she is clearly in control of both her craft and her ideas, and this project is original both in its conception and it execution.
Whether you follow the Canadian art scene or not, you should make the effort to remember Kajola's name: I'm sure you will hearing more about her.
