I engage in art as trans-disciplinary research and critical practice significantly informed by my previous studies within sociology. By employing artistic mediums I explore the deep and often hidden structures of power and control that dominate the contemporary moment and frame our cultural imagination. All of my work is project driven and generally begins with a question. The questions that intrigue me are philosophical, scientific, political and theoretical. Drawing from diverse practices including installation, painting, photography, and video and sound, my previous work attempt to reveal and critique apparatuses and systems of control that structure our daily lives and our bodies that inhabit this experience.

Most recently, and in regards to the Luminous Bodies Residency, my new work will examine the relationship between the physical body of bi-racial women and digital media, particularly the Internet. How do social media, blogs, webcams, sexting, etc. influence our embodied experience? While hegemonic and patriarchal interpretations of women’s social media production are situated within a rhetoric of narcissism, vanity and immorality, my work addresses how women (specifically bi-racial women like myself) utilize the aforementioned devices to navigate the terms of identity under the condition of post-feminism.

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Candice Okada is a visual artist living in Burnaby Vancouver who works primarily in photography, video and installation.  She received a BA in Sociology from the University of British Columbia and a BFA University of the Fraser Valley, focusing on both art history and contemporary artistic practices. Currently, she is enrolled in the MFA program at UBC. Her work, which has been exhibited in Canada and the United States,  is intended to serve as a platform that encourages people to discuss and contemplate the information presented to them, with the hopes they will leave the artwork with new insights into their relationship with visual culture.