Joya: AiR / Connie Morey / CAN

‘My studio practice explores the themes industry, labour, and ecological displacement (what it means to be separate from the earth as home) through performance with sculpture and textiles documented through photography and stop-motion video. While at JOYA AiR, I worked on the Canada Council funded project The Mending Ground, which began in the clear cuts and old growth forests of Vancouver Island, Canada on unceded Indigenous land (Pacheedaht and Malahat Territories). The Mending Ground explores how colonial approaches to the earth as a commodity resource rather than kin result in ecological displacement and environmental loss. It explores how pioneer species (moss and lichen) and carbon rich soils provide models for relational integrity and paths to ecological restoration.

I initially applied to JOYA AiR because of the inspiring work being done by Simon and Donna to replenish the soil and ecosystems on site through considered development of water catchment systems and the planting of thousands of diverse local species. I was fascinated by the agricultural history of the area and while on residence, I spent time in the barranco, and at the old well, observing nature, almond trees and being awestruck by the kaolin and limestone rich soil.

Time in the studio, sharing and connecting with other artists, and learning about the history and restorative initiatives happening at JOYA AiR had a profound impact on my work as an artist. The building, studio, natural environment, Donna and Simon’s amazing cooking, and dinner time conversations provided nourishment on many levels that allowed me to take creative risks that will continue to feed my studio work for years to come’.

Connie Morey

Connie Michele Morey's studio practice explores the experience of home as ecological interdependence. Through site-specific performance, and participatory sculptures documented through photography and video, her work questions the relationships between ecology, displacement and belonging. Connie's studio practice is influenced by childhood experiences living rurally off the land, while being surrounded by family traditions of masonry, construction and textiles. Her family history co-mingles settler and Indigenous identities (Scottish, Swedish & Anishinaabe), and her studies in sculpture, ecology, philosophy, post-colonial studies and art education, have impacted her interest in displacement and the politics of marginalization. She holds a BFA in Visual Arts from the University of Lethbridge, an M.Ed. in Art Education and a Studio-Based PhD from the University of Victoria. She currently lives as an uninvited guest on the unceded territories of the Xwepsum (Esquimalt) and Lkwungen (Songhees) Peoples where she also teaches Sculpture, Drawing, Community Art and Cultural Studies at the University of Victoria, Vancouver Island University and Camosun College.