Art, like myself, is a very multifaceted entity. It has given me opportunities to learn and adapt in many areas of life. It is my belief that I can make a difference through this artfulness that has, and continues to shape me. I draw inspiration from a myriad of places and materials when creating a piece of art, more notably from my exploratory work in mental health. I carry this inspiration into my pieces which allow me to creatively process aspects of my everyday life. Authenticity is everything to me and I make it my goal to embed ingenuity into whatever I create. Philosophically speaking, art is all the more endearing when the artist’s truth is the first thing you see since, in my opinion, artwork isn’t just meant to be viewed, it’s also meant to be felt. Overall, my artistic practice is rooted in the healing properties intrinsic to creative expression. Creating art generates a unique space for people to take a moment to learn from themselves, from material resources and to express what words cannot; if a picture is worth a thousand words, then the creative process is worth a thousand revelatory and healing conversations with the soul.

I intend to explore and re-present the body by creating a series of handmade dolls based on anatomical parts of the body. Inspired by the Guatemalan tradition of worry dolls, I have been creating dolls for myself and with clients to manifest and externalize bodily experiences into comforting, tangible, pocket- sized entities. I’m drawn to explore this practice further, through this topic, as a personal means of connecting with my body and its current challenges. In an ongoing journey of dealing with fibroids, I’ve been challenged in this way to relate to my body in its discomfort. The act of making a doll personifying my uterus (and subsequently other organs/parts of my body) will hopefully help me to connect to all of my parts in a ‘felt’ way, removed from the sterile, disconnected outlook of medical science. The act of creating the dolls will also allow for meditative space to further understand my relationship to the [body] part in question. Once a doll is complete, I hope to continue the practice of relating to that part in its externalized form- nurturing it, caring for it and reflecting on it as it serves to unite me to myself in a holistic way.

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Chantal Fraizinger (she/they) BFA, DTATI, RCAT, RP. Let me begin by stating that, first and foremost, I am a human be-ing. In my journey as a human being, I have been fortunate enough to produce and exist in creative spheres as a multi-media artist and art psychotherapist. As a second-generation settler borne into the ‘western dream’, I studied and earned a BFA in Sculpture and Installation from OCAD University as well as a Master’s level diploma in Art Therapy from the Toronto Art Therapy Institute. Upon graduation from the latter, I received the 2019 Gilda Grossman Award for my thesis project on grief and loss, which I completed in a graphic novel format. Art (namely sequential or comic art) has always made sense to me when nothing else did. In that regard, it made perfect sense that the way I chose to explore my mother’s death would be through the very old tradition of visual narration (those cave people were on to something…), to appease academic expectations. Now, I, this culturally-confused, work-in-progress am trying to disrupt and challenge my own personality through the ever-forgiving realm of creative expression. Creating art is like this beautiful archaeological process towards unearthing my homebase, which I’m ultimately trying to discover for myself, my mother and my ancestors…it’s the least I can do for all that they did to bring me here, with all my undeserved privileges. More of Chantal’s work can be seen at chantalfraizinger.wixsite.com/thewoolgatherer and griefcomicmemoir.wordpress.com.