Last summer, local comics artist, writer, and illustrator Sylvia Nickerson became our new RBC Artist in Residence, occupying the space in our David Braley and Nancy Gordon Sculpture Atrium with a wide range of projects reflecting her decades-long artist practice. For this week’s AGH Magazine article, enjoy this behind-the-scenes look at the work of this important local artist.
Recorded within the provincial guidelines at the time of filming, this video serves as an ideal companion piece to our introductory article written by AGH Contemporary Art Curator Melissa Bennett upon the exhibition’s opening, as well as our interview with Bennett on the residency last fall.
Nickerson has previously written comics examining parenthood, gender, social class, and religion. Her work has appeared in The Globe and Mail, The National Post, The Boston Globe, and The Washington Post. Her graphic novel Creation won The Nipper Doug Wright Award for Best Emerging Comics Talent.
This residency offers Nickerson the opportunity to develop content for a new fantasy graphic novel exploring the future of artificial intelligence. Nickerson is evolving her exploration of character in the exhibition component of the residency. In Dark Mirrors, papier–mâché figures reveal her two-dimensional characters come to three-dimensional life for the first time. Nickerson’s new book is inspired by the way our actions, emotions, and identities are tracked by everyday technologies that passively surveil us. Is it possible for a computer, a government, a corporation, to know us better than we know ourselves? Nickerson plans to use Dark Mirrors as a vehicle for imagining the characters these figures represent in a speculative technological future.
Want to learn more about Nickerson and her exhibition? Check out the exhibition page for online videos created during her residency, as well as our other two AGH Magazine articles documenting the work and interviewing the artist.
Please note that at the time of this publication, the AGH is temporarily closed. We continue to follow the advice and directives of the local public health officials, the provincial government, and our Board of Directors, so stay tuned to our Plan Your Visit and COVID-19 Guidelines page for updates. We hope our visitors remain connected to our programs and exhibitions through AGH at Home and Shop at AGH Online.
Header image: Installation view of RBC Artist in Residence: Sylvia Nickerson, 2020.
RBC Artist in Residence presented by:
