A unique exploration of identity is on the walls of Plaskett Gallery.
My Face My Canvas, by Tajah Olson, is on at the gallery from May 5 through 31.
The Malawi-born artist uses her face as her canvas in an exhibition that explores questions of identity.
“When I paint my canvas, my face, I feel like it is an escape where I am free to explore and become anything that inspires me. I am intrigued and influenced by faces, expressions, tribes, different female forms, textures and patterns,” she says in an artist’s statement.
Olson says painting her canvas allows her to escape the negative stereotypes, fascination with skin colour and racism that she has faced while living in the western world.
“In my escape, I forget that I am that ‘black girl’ that I am usually referred as. In my escape I am Tajah Olson, born in Malawi. I am whatever colour I choose to be, I am a queen, a goddess, a warrior, I am white, green, black, I am spirit, a man, a child, a woman, I am a movement, a pattern, a texture,” she says. “I am a celebration and anything that I choose to be, even if it does not exist in this world.”
Plaskett Gallery is at the Massey Theatre, 735 Eighth Ave. It’s open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 1 to 5 p.m. or by appointment. See www.masseytheatre.com or call 604-517-5900.
You can find out more about Olson and her art at www.rawartists.org/tajaholson.
