Faculty of Art

Drawing and Painting

Supriya James

"Paramount".

"Paramount" is a large, colourful, abstract landscape painting of scenery in Go Home Lake, ON that embeds feminist, environmental, and spiritual discourses.

“"Paramount" is a feminist-theory, spiritual painting that embodies hybridity and pentimenti.It's inspired by the iconic scenery of Canada’s “Group of Seven” painters, while, at the same time, manifesting modern, neon colours and gestural brushwork that are infused by my personal memory, sensual responses, and gratitude. "Paramount" also recognizes the temporality of the “heaven on earth” we call Georgian Bay. It not only captures the love I have for the myriad landscapes of Go Home Lake, it also enmeshes my Indo-Guyanese and Canadian heritages via abstracted form and vivid colours as signifiers of my cultural hybridity after having integrated to Canada from Guyana. My gestural brushwork is used to acknowledge the indelible imprints, within the lakes’ mesmerizing waters, of sweet memories of great times spent with my family and friends on Go Home Lake and of the historic travels of the Indigenous peoples who came before us. With global environmental disasters and wars, that seem to multiply faster each year, “Paramount” manifests feminist, environmental, and spiritual discourses that highlight not only the beauty and magic of our natural world, but, also acts as a reminder for us all to respect our environment and each other. ”