Faculty of Art

Drawing and Painting

Jeneatte Amarelo

Portrait of Tree

Created as part of an exploratory landscape series titled "Tree Portraits" this work was created using Fire/Soot, charred bark from the subject (a tree chosen in the forest burnt by the 2016 Horse River wildfire) willow charcoal, watercolour, gouache and stick. The portrait is intimate and invites the viewer to consider the journey of this trees life. It's asking them to consider her experiences; past, present and future and how she will continue to influence the environment she calls home.

“My work is conjured into existence using found imagery and photographs taken of/by myself from different periods throughout my life. Created in isolation, surrounded by my children and my plants I became increasingly aware of our connected mental and physical health. Presented now in a series titled “Portraits of a Woman” memory and illusion collide, the relationship to “truth” is intense and real while also flippant and fabricated. Themes are layered and include but are not limited to; womanhood, motherhood, mental health/trauma, local and global ecological crises and the devaluation of women and nature. Narratives included reference art historical imagery and everyday current events. No single element in the work is tethered to its original time or place in any meaningful way which allows for the subjects to exist ubiquitously. I have also been producing mixed-media landscape works and installations, in a series referred to as “Tree Portraits”. In this work many of the themes present in my painting practice are also pushing through. Extra attention is however being given to materiality and the autonomy of the “non-human” subjects. The work is created in a state of deep contemplation and fixed attention in a move toward building a reciprocal relationship with the subject(s). I set out to immerse myself in the subject’s reality and place specific focus on my own autonomous choices. I am exploring the artists role in the construction of western/colonial relationships to plants, nature and materials. ”