Hold Me Dear

“Two years ago while searching for images relevant to my painting practice, I came across the Alberta Hunting Addicts forum on facebook. I had assumed with joining this online community that I would use it solely as an image source but found myself more and more interested in what it means to hunt, and the interactions between members of the forum.

The prairies are my home, but at times I experience a disconnect with prairie culture. Despite coming from a rural farming family my politically left-leaning, city-slickin’ ways often leave me feeling like an imposter. As I collected images I noticed that many of the members had an interest in conservation, a willingness to provide support to other members and a respect for nature. Finding commonality with the hunting community was unexpected and challenged my assumptions about why people hunt. It had never occurred to me that hunting was anything beyond the desire to shoot something.  While much of what we see online is curated by algorithms echoing what they have learned we like to look at, I had unknowingly chosen to integrate ideas and opinions I was uncomfortable with into my daily routine of checking social media.

Through my residency at SNAP I have continued to follow the forum and the collages have transitioned to dioramas which translate my experience of the online space into physical objects. Hold Me Dear is a fragmentation of my accidental engagement with prairie culture and the common ground we unexpectedly hold.” – Haylee Fortin

Biography

Haylee Fortin is an Edmonton based painter, new media artist and printmaker. Graduating with distinction from the University of Alberta’s Fine Art program in 2015, Haylee has since pursued an interest in art as a means of community engagement with local artist run centres. Through her position as studio assistant, Haylee supports programming for artists with developmental disabilities at the Nina Haggerty Center and contributes to arts initiatives on Alberta Avenue.

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This project is supported by the Edmonton Arts Council and the City of Edmonton.