Artist Statement

My work is focussed on the potential in liminal states and places to expose gaps in our understanding. I want to uncover the strata of different types of memory and their associated narratives: the relationships between place, objects, and notions of history and identity.
What is left out of any given story is as important as what is chosen.
What becomes “real” changes over time; some things are un-said.
Can the un-said be given a new voice? Become an animating force in the reassembling of fragments of meaning?
What can the process of uncovering these things teach us about being in relation, to human and other-than-human beings?

Biography

A queer prairie-born settler artist and writer, Sydney Lancaster works through installation, print, audio and video work to consider the intersections of place, history, and identity. They received a BA in English from the University of Alberta, and an MFA from Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador, and she was the recipient of scholarship funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for their MFA Research-Creation. Her work has been shown across Canada, and in the US and UK. Her most recent publication was a chapbook of poetry co-authored with Jannie Edwards, entitled Learning Their Names: Letters from the Home Place, published by Collusion Books in Kjipuktuk/Halifax NS. They feel blessed to call Mtapan/ Wolfville NS home since 2021.