Image
8 digital collage images in a row, all vertical orientation, in black metal frames on the facade of a brick building shot in wide angle

Untitled Portals, Variations

Untitled Portals, Variations presents a series of collages, an installation piece, and a virtual space by Laura Kay Keeling as part of CAFKA.25 Field Guide to the Understory. Through a process-centered approach, the artist experimented with and merged analog and digital processes to expand on an earlier series, Untitled Portals.

These pieces incorporate natural elements that have been photographed both digitally and on 35mm film, scanned using a flatbed scanner and a 3D scanner, digitally manipulated, and then brought into physical form. Continuing a dialogue between the natural and digital world, the work explores connections to where we find ourselves, the incredible and important ecosystems that surround us, and the joys that can come from everyday moments of being in and engaging with our surroundings through reciprocal care and respect.  

How can we maintain and evolve connections to the natural world in an increasingly isolating and technology-dependent society?

Can virtual spaces be used to encourage folks to take pause and explore, and can moments of joy and excitement be replicated in these virtual environments?

Untitled Portals, Variations - Virtual Space

Laura Kay Keeling (she/her/they) is a self-taught visual artist based in Hamilton, Ontario. Her practice is rooted in a process-centred approach that integrates analog photography, video, digital collage and installation. Keeling has exhibited work across Ontario, in the United States and in South Korea. Highlights include, recently completing her first solo exhibition titled Untitled Portals at Smokestack Gallery in Hamilton, showing work at DesignTO, CONTACT, the NAC, The RMG, as part of BigArtTO and more. She has completed public art pieces for Assembly Park in Vaughan, transit signal cabinet wraps in Hamilton, artwork for the elevator doors at The Anndore House and is currently completing a piece for the City of Sault Ste. Marie and the City of Barrie.