ANDREA SOLER
For me, art is a window through which we can see, almost touch, that which we are all made of.
As a Colombian-Canadian artist the search for identity and belonging has been a key component of my work. Art allows us to acknowledge life, to inhabit our sacred territories and to face the world.
The phenomenon of migration has always been part of the human experience. In recognition of this, my art is a testimony to my part in this journey, and I have made the concept of "reconstruction" the focus of my creative process. The techniques of collagraph (graphic collage) applied to printmaking and painting have been the ideal media to re-create the experience of building a habitat with the fragments, belongings and memories that everyone carries with them. Symbols such as tied-up strings (that hold pieces and people together), fragments of textures (from found objects, sand, corn leaves and nature) and layers of colours (the depth that we all have below the surface) have been a recurring theme in my recent work.
Creating art is a personal and professional achievement for me. As Henry Moore once said, "To be an artist is to believe in life".
Andrea Soler
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