(Dis)comfort
Ryan’s piece, “(Dis)comfort”, is a mixed media artwork utilizing digital photography, printed media, and embroidery. Ryan was curious in exploring the intense feelings of rupture and repair visually, symbolically, and practically in the artmaking process. The felt-sense experience of piercing the image causing disruption but leading into the reparative process of mending the image into something new. This process of rupture and repair is paralleled in the presentation, “Choosing Love at the End of the World: Social Collapse, Conflict Resolution and Queer Resilience” by Kai Cheng Thom and in the theme of the 2021 Summit: Disrupt and Reconstruct.
Kai Cheng Thom brought attention to the reality that all of us, as human beings, will harm and have harmed one another. They raised the question: “How does one stay in community with individuals who have harmed us, we may have harmed or harmed the people we know?” Ryan reflected on this question and explored how an individual, no matter the role in the situation, may react, respond, or internalize experiences of harm.
Ryan visually investigated the duality of harm directed towards and within the Queer community. Symbolization is found in the plants chosen (perceptions: harmful or helpful), how an individual/community proceeds forward and focus on the reparative process to find growth/meaning.
Ryan O’Lewis
Ryan O’Lewis (he/him) is a queer, (dis)abled, Canadian artist currently residing on the unceded traditional lands of the Lekwungen and W̱SÁNEĆ peoples. His art practice explores sexuality, (dis)ability and mental health. More specifically the intricate relationship one has with themselves and how they experience spaces with visible and invisible marginalized identities. Ryan’s mediums are expansive as he aims to push the boundaries of traditional, two-dimensional media into the realm of sculpture.