As a descendant of European settlers, I am grateful for the opportunity to live and work on Treaty 1 territory and the ancestral lands of the Anishinaabeg, Ininew, Anishininew, Dakota Oyate, and Denesuline, and the traditional homeland of the Red River Métis Nation. I recognize and have come to appreciate the importance of Indigenous peoples’ knowledge-sharing culture and tradition as protectors of the natural world. My water is sourced from Shoal Lake 40 First Nation.
BIOGRAPHY
Tracy Peters is a Canadian visual artist who uses photographic processes, moving images, sculpture and installation to examine the entanglement of human and more-than-human behaviours. She is fascinated with eroding landscapes, threatened environments, and ideas about preservation. Peters has received grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Manitoba Arts Council, and the Winnipeg Arts Council, and has attended national and international artist residencies. Her work has exhibited across Canada, in Europe and Australia, and has been written about in art publications including Border Crossings and Peripheral Review. She lives on Treaty 1 Territory (Winnipeg).
ARTIST STATEMENT
In my multidisciplinary practice, I am drawn to threatened habitats that are in the midst of cataclysmic change. My projects have taken me to flooded shorelines in Manitoba, rising sea levels in Miami, shifting tides on Ireland’s north coast, and bog wetlands in Canada and Sweden. Most often, I carry out my work and research in natural environments where unpredictable weather and ecological surprises challenge me to adapt my studio production to biological processes.
I use photographic materials in collaboration with natural forces to collect impressions from the passage of time, light and weather. For example, I wove giant photographs into an abandoned grain shed, embedded light-sensitive paper in a stone beach, and submerged 16mm film in algae as witness to the effects of climate on the ecosystem. This allows me to communicate with the environment in an attempt to access its embodied knowledge. Through these haptic interventions, I respond to the wind and water in ways that parallel those of my body, such as breathing, pulse and consciousness.