My creative work begins with my curiosity, enthusiasm and sense of wonder about the world. Art making is many things for me: it can be a way for me to attend to joyful moments; or a way to process grief; or a way to understand and communicate about the world that I experience. It is also one of my lifelines, in that the act of creation gives me renewed hope for the future. My practice involves diverse subject matter, genres and media, depending on the question or feeling that I want to explore and give expression to. I do figure drawing on a weekly basis and enjoy portraiture of all kinds, but I am also drawn to nature and landscapes, still life, and abstraction. I am also a (controlled) collector of materials waiting to be upcycled, such as leftover paint, used palette papers, linens, corks, sample fabrics and plexiglass. I believe that all art is ultimately an act of empathy, whether I am painting the flowers on the table, or drawing a portrait, or creating an image which is saying something about a social justice issue. My subject matter is diverse, but I always try to imbue a sense of presence and an expressive energy in all my work.

The body. How does it define me? How does it make my day? How do I live in it, because of it? In short, what is my relationship to my body, and how does this play out in my daily life (and by extension the lives of others?) As an artist who explores portraiture and figurative work, I am looking forward to a slower appreciation of what it means to inhabit the body.  I am also interested in considering my biases, and how they may limit me as an artist from expressing a broader, fuller and more inclusive and diverse representation of our world. To this end,  I would like to develop a greater awareness of and sensitivity to the ways in which I might aspire to posit the body in all its diversity as a normative state. Readings, artist talks, walks and conversations with other artists will be useful to me, as well as my own notes, sketches, and ideas that I will develop over the two weeks. Ultimately, my vision of the world is one where we are all connected, and the island will be a perfect place for me to further develop this idea/feeling for my art at Luminous Bodies.

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Taline Kavoukian is a Toronto based artist and educator with the Toronto District School Board. She is a graduate of the Central Technical School’s Adult Art Centre, holds an M.A. in the Philosophy of Education, and is currently preparing for admission to the MFA program at York University. Her art practice has been her window into a deeper appreciation and awareness of the interior self, social justice issues, and  the diverse landscapes that we are sometimes subjected to suffer, and sometimes privileged to enjoy. She is an enthusiastic reader, walker, traveller and curious learner who believes that life is an adventure to be lived with love, joy and in community.