The Project
Artist Statement:
With my banners I use comics and biophilia (love of nature) to explore the concept of home. I created a flowing narrative that explores my mixed feelings of being born and raised here in Calgary.
I spent the majority of my adult life adapting to a disability and grew up in a house of addictions. I started associating my home, and to an extent viewing Calgary, as negative. A place that was dismissive, ableist and hostile. I moved away for a few years. But, over time, I started to miss Calgary, my friends and certain quirks of the city. I moved back to my parents at the start of the pandemic and I started to re-appreciate the area and things around me.
I started to research the concept of home in my art practice – what it means and its theory. Is it a place you grew up? Can it be the people that raised you? Is your home the marks on the walls that measure your height, the carpets that brush your feet? The trees that surround us? Or the architecture of our buildings?
Our place reflects who we are and unwittingly shapes us. It shows on our skin and grounds us in the reality of the self. Cattails, crocuses, pine and birch surround my house and their meanings fascinate me. Cattails are a part of my medication. Crocuses help with skin disorders. I learned that the plants that grow around me have more of a connection to myself and my body than I realized. I am shaped by my surroundings and I am also aware that I, in turn, shape those too. With my banners I ask my viewers to think of their home and how it may have shaped them.
I would like to thank Elder Camille Pablo Russell and Elder Marilyn Shingoose for their input, expertise and guidance towards this project.
— Jacqueline Huskisson
The Centre City Banner Program:
The Centre City Banner Program engages local artists to create artwork for banners displayed on light poles and bridges leading into the core, acting as gateways to Calgary’s downtown and cultural district.
Learn more about the program here.