Heidi McKenzie

Artist Statement
My studio practice engages issues of identity and belonging. Through abstract portraiture, I capture self, an individual, a culture, or society. Since graduating from Sheridan in 2012, I have been working with abstract self-portraiture. In 2017 I embarked on a new arc in my creative development that addresses a broad range of
publics and draws in the breadth of immigrants and indigenous peoples with whom we live to engage in forms that were previously restricted to Western aesthetics. I seek to invigorate modernism in contemporary times. The forms are inspired by iconic modernists such as Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth — clear lines, and
hollow negative spaces, where the interior space represents a simultaneous sense of loss, renewal, and overall belonging. This abstract representation leaves the viewer to unravel their own truth about the art—and perhaps to glean a hint of their own reflection within the works.