FIGURING

A collection of work by Canmore photographer, Alexis McKeown, from her on-going series entitled FIGURING which blends her expertise in still life & figure study work to illustrate a beautiful exploration of her conflicted relationship with food & eating.

Artist's Statement:

I love food, but I don’t think I’m supposed to. This body of work is a collection of self-portraits and still life photographs that I set out to make as I began figuring out my conflicted relationship with food and eating.

I make all of my work alone in the studio, drawing on my childhood ballet training for the performance art aspects, and on my love of classical & baroque artwork for the inspiration behind the lighting and composition. The process of building these photographs and using myself in the frame is messy, awkward, sometimes painful, and often hilarious.

My aim is to draw the viewer in with familiar elements of beauty & humour, in order to confront them with the conflict underneath the surface. It’s a conflict many people hold within themselves, and I share this work with hopes of fostering connection and conversation around a topic that’s often kept quiet, despite the incessant inner noise it unleashes.