Creator: Charlotte Wilson-Hammond
Nominator: Ted Lind, ARTsPLACE
In/Visible is a series of fourteen thematically linked large-scale drawings described as “painstaking, impressive, and extensive” by the 2019 jury. Wilson-Hammond’s creative process involved meticulously recolouring near-life-sized, de-saturated Mylar-printed photos of her own shadow on landscapes with coloured pencils seamlessly. The jury commended the relationship of the medium of the work to the thematic elements at the heart of its inspiration: one’s impermanence compared to our physical environment and the erosion of the self – especially the aging woman, who “widely report that as they age they slowly become invisible to people around them.”
With each of the drawings taking approximately 100 hours to complete, the jury noted how the process of creating the piece brings an additional level of poignancy to the creation, as it exemplifies the amount of work that an aging woman needs to go through to get noticed. The work also calls attention to the timely issue of social structure in Nova Scotia and is undeniably pertinent to the current provincial demographic. The jury praised the relatability of the work and its ability to traverse the province, the nation, cultures, and social issues.
As the jury commented: “In/Visible is a touchstone for Nova Scotians as lives change and the world changes.”
