Vancouver Island鈥檚 old-growth forests have inspired acclaimed digital artist Kelly Richardson to move to Victoria, to be closer to the inspiration the ancient stands of trees provide.
In particular, she has had her eye on Port Renfrew 鈥� dubbed the 鈥渢all-tree capital鈥� of sa国际传媒 鈥� and is featuring it in a digital-art creation that will be shown at Imax theatres as part of a film series. The series will celebrate the 50th anniversary of Imax鈥檚 invention.
The Ontario-born Richardson is working as an associate professor of visual arts at the University of Victoria, and before that she was a lecturer in fine arts at Newcastle University in northern England.
Richardson, 45, said a visit to Victoria in 2016 to give a talk at UVic featured a trip to the Port Renfrew area鈥檚 Avatar Grove, which had a big influence on her decision to move here.
She said she was 鈥減henomenally moved鈥� at the sight of the grove.
The move to Victoria fell into place when there was a job opportunity at UVic.
鈥淚 had been living in England for 14 years,鈥� Richardson said. 鈥淚 really loved my life in the U.K., I was not looking to leave.鈥�
But she said she could not pass up the opportunity to live close to Vancouver Island鈥檚 forests, something that fits with the basis of her art.
鈥淢ost of my projects focus on environmental issues, and I work with landscapes, always as a starting point in the works.鈥�
Richardson said she is best known for creating large-scale video installations, with a video camera and a single-lens reflex camera her basic tools.
鈥淭he best way to describe them is that they鈥檙e moving pictures or paintings,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e not still images, but they are environments that viewers feel as though they can walk within.
鈥淓verything鈥檚 moving, and then there鈥檚 sound that accompanies each video, which helps to convince the viewer of where they are.鈥�
Special effects are added to achieve the final result, she said, and offered some examples.
鈥淭here鈥檚 images from a desert landscape where I鈥檝e inserted rockets, what look like rockets endlessly leaving what is presumed to be planet Earth. Another image has yellow tendrils of light in it that were inserted, so it looks like either a toxic spill of some description or a bioluminescent life form that either existed in the past or might exist in the future.
鈥淪o there鈥檚 always multiple ways to read it.鈥�
Conservation is a big part of her message, Richardson said.
鈥淭he work gets out there into the world, and on the one hand I want it to be enjoyable as artwork, but I want it to be more than that as well,鈥� she said. 鈥淓nvironmentally, with climate change and the vast changes that we鈥檝e made since the Industrial Revolution, we鈥檙e facing incredibly uncertain futures as a result.
鈥淲hat I want people to do is to think about where we鈥檙e heading and why.鈥�
Richardson鈥檚 art has an international following.
鈥淚 tend to show in museums around the world or festivals like the Sundance Film Festival.鈥�
She has also been featured in many solo and group exhibitions, and is part of collections at such sites as the National Gallery of sa国际传媒, the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, New York.
