Artist Statement

I am an interdisciplinary artist living and working as an uninvited guest in Mi’kma’ki. My upbringing as a settler in Treaty 7 has deeply influenced my practice through a continued interest in ecology, time, industry, and survival.

My formal art education focused on photography, and my first body of work, Ouroboros, primarily used photographic techniques like analog photography, digital photography, cyanotype, and photogrammetry. Several pieces utilized textiles, including Artist’s Shroud, a life-size inkjet print on Belgian Linen of my body in point-cloud form, captured with photogrammetry.

Visual Silencing uses large format photography and a tabletop cutter to create black holes in the images of wetlands and grasslands. The work questions arbitrary geographic boundaries that inform policy regarding the use and alteration of wetlands and grasslands. While producing the work I am performing the role of surveyor and extractor, interpreting boundaries as I remove parts of the image. Another current body of work called All the light that (was) touched (by) you uses snapshot photographs and cameras to investigate the role of images in our cultural fears surrounding loss of memory. The pieces are plaster cast replicas of the prints, erasing the images and preserving only the damaged surfaces of the small prints. They are accompanied by translucent casts of the interiors of snapshot cameras.

Visual artists who have influenced my work include Marlene Cretes, Sarah Fuller, Mary Kavanaugh, and Emily Neufeld. I am interested in working more with glass and textiles, and introducing ceramics, wood, and public art installations into my practice.

Biography

Keely Hopkins is a settler artist based in Kjipuktuk in Mi’kma’ki (Halifax, Nova Scotia). Born in Sikóóhkotok (Lethbridge, Alberta) on Treaty 7 Territory, Hopkins completed a Bachelor of Science in Biology in 2019 at the University of Lethbridge before pursuing visual art at NSCAD University. They graduated with a BFA in Photography and a minor in Art History in 2023.

During their time at NSCAD University they were short-listed twice for the annual Student Art Award. They revitalized the current iteraiton of the NSCAD Photo Collective in 2022, which maintains community organized programming. Hopkins’ solo exhibition Ouroboros was funded by the Roloff Beny Scholarship, and focused on climate anxiety and awe through experimental photography, sculpture, and video. This body work was heavily influenced by their upbringing in the coulees and mountains around Treaty 7 territory. In 2023 they were selected for an internship with Anna Leonowens Gallery to curate the Graduation Exhibition, titled MYCELIA, which featured over 60 artists and included an exhibition catalogue.

In 2024 they were a recipient of Struts Gallery Media Arts Production Fund. Hopkins has exhibited across Canada and was the recipient of a Create Grant from ArtsNS to complete a body of work considering the importance of wetlands and grasslands in mitigating further erosion accelerated by climate change and colonial mistreatment of the land. In April 2025 they will exhibit All the light that (was) touched (by) you in the Craig Case Gallery, Dartmouth Nova Scotia.

Hopkins’ practice is interdisciplinary and is frequently based in photography, sculpture and video. Topics of climate, colonial capitalism, and connection are often addressed in their work.