3 March – 2 June 2023
GVPL Saanich Centennial Branch
3110 Tillicum Rd, Victoria, BC
Artist Statement:
‘Oddballs’ is about celebrating the strange in the world around us and within ourselves. Each watercolour painting is based on a plant from the ‘Oddballs’ section of Pojar & Mackinnon’s Plants of Coastal British Columbia where they have been grouped together due to their “weird appearance.” While the plants were studied closely with the help of the book, the pieces in this series depart drastically from accurate botanical representation with the hope of creating images
that straddle science and fantasy.
It can be easy to respond to things deemed “weird” with disregard or even fear, whether in nature or other people or ourselves. Curiosity is also a natural response to the odd or unknown, and can engender compassion and connection. As Pojar and Mackinnon put it in their book, when we ask “What IS that thing?!” a sense of wonder arises.
About the Artist:
Sarah Kilian is an emerging multidisciplinary visual artist and writer from Vancouver Island, where she currently lives on the traditional territories of the lək̓wəŋən speaking people.
