About

Kelsey Dawn Pearson (they/them) is a multidisciplinary artist living in Corner Brook, Newfoundland. They hold an MFA from Concordia University and a BFA from NSCAD University and have exhibited their work in Canada, the US, and Ireland. They are the Print Media and Photography Technician in Fine Arts at Memorial University’s Grenfell Campus and have a practice focusing on print, fibres, and performance. 

Kelsey has a keen interest in bringing sustainability to the materials with which they practice, leading to the adoption of techniques like fur processing, leather tanning, natural dyeing and pigment making, scavenging, and upcycling. Their current work explores femme and queer histories in fishing, hunting and trapping practices. As an avid angler, hunter and licensed trapper, they consider the cultural, domestic and economical significance of each act. They reflect on the ethics of their actions as a settler on unceded Mi’kima’ki land.

Through the use of craft techniques taught to them by their mother and grandmothers, Kelsey reflects on functionality and its in(ability) to blur aesthetic value. They develop imagery composed of figures emerging from a natural environment, like smoothed rocks protruding from the dirt. These images illustrate socially driven narratives while pointing inward at personal doubts and prolonged dysmorphia. 

It is the land that shapes the people.