Michael Peterson
Michael Peterson completed his Bachelor of Fine Arts with a focus on Printmaking at the University of Saskatchewan this spring. In his most recent series, he took cell phone photos of his daily life leading up to his graduating show in March and printed them as silk screens and lithographs. The images are intended to be snapshots, never cleaning up or setting up beforehand. Including long titles that describe the personal meaning of the images, he has attempted to created somewhat of a narrative of this time in his life.
"I have felt like a writer since I was a child. Feeling like an artist has been slower to come. For years I have been trying to write about life and, sometimes, my life. Not only my most interesting stories, but the everyday ones only a friend would listen to. I have found there is an art in this. In trying to show life. This show is about my life from the Christmas holidays until now. The most significant moments and the times in-between. I’ve used long titles to create somewhat of a narrative of these past four months of my life. During the Christmas holidays, I finished renovations on my room at my mom’s house. We had started these just before my dad left, and for years so much of what reminded me of who I am remained packed in boxes. Unpacking them, I had to confront not only who I was, but who I had thought I would become. A number of these prints are about how my life is different than I expected and finding when I am okay with that. The photos taken after Christmas are about what my life has become recently – mostly art and printing this show. I have taken these photos with my cell phone. It is the first digital camera I owned. I always have it with me, allowing me to take photos as my life happens, rather than planning or staging them. I have taken these photos without cleaning or setting up anything. I am trying to be alright with showing the parts of my life I don’t usually show. But I didn’t want it to seem like that is all of me. Because there are many parts of my life I am proud of. I come up short sometimes, but I try. Cell phone photos are generally ephemeral. And these images are not significant moments but everyday life. I have tried to give them a permanence by hand-printing them and, in some cases, using non-representational colours. Silk-screened and lithographed, these images look like me. At least they do today".
Michael can be contacted at michael.peterson1@yahoo.ca and printgallery.ca
