Artist Bio
Georgia Whist (b. 1995, Vancouver, Canada) is a queer, MAD, emerging mixed media visual artist based in Tkaronto (Toronto). From 2013-2022 Whist pursued a career in the field of civil engineering as restoration consultant, while simultaneously continuing their art practice. At the start of 2022 they left engineering to heal from a bad case of burn out. Since then the experience of living with burnout has greatly influenced their art, leading them to reflect on modern life's impact on societal and individual wellness.
Whist experiments with numerous materials (acrylic paint, encaustic wax, acrylic sand mediums, soldering, found objects, etc.) and the creative technique of automatism - forgoing control to explore the intangibles of mental health and life.
Georgia’s work has been included in various Tkaronto based exhibitions; such as, Workman Art’s 2024 Being Scene Exhibition. Georgia’s work can also be found in I Like Your Work’s 2023 Fall Exhibition.
Artist Statement
My desire as a queer, neurodivergent and disabled artist is to collaborate with found/trashed material in magnifying the intricate complexity of being on 21st century Earth. Completely immersing myself in the process of creation with no goal or purpose other than the experience of experimentation itself channels my surrender to self soothing, and resistance to industry. The burnout caused by my adherence to engineering was scaffolded by rules and graphs, numbers and toxins. Now I luxuriate in the extravagance of colour, texture, flow and unencumbered form. Floating on maximum stimulation through the intricate immediacy of my work gifts my neurodivergent brain with the slow, easy, free/full stream of consciousness it needs to heal.
As you too must slow down to consume and digest the vibrant fullness of my work I hope it nourishes your microbial existence with fascination. I must expand your senses. My life depends on it. As my kinfolk know well, there is no clear way forward for us in this society - no map. So we must learn to feel into existence with new undiscovered wits - reaching out in experimentation and ever expanding complexity towards some new future where the pleasure of intricacy holds space for the diversity of our existence.