Click on the image to watch the film.
Click on the image to watch the film.
WE WERE HERE (2025): The sudden death of Sophie Breen led her mother, writer Mary Fairhurst Breen, to create WE WERE HERE, a writing and film project that offers a glimpse into the shortened lives of just eleven of thousands of Ontarians who have been killed by fentanyl in recent years. None made it to 30; some didn’t make it to adulthood. I made the art for the films for each of these people - Alex, Austin, Brock, Destin, Hilary, Katie, Sophie, Madalyn, Nathan, Ula and Zach. You can watch all the films on YouTube. With every unnecessary death there is a gaping hole where there was once a human being who was deeply loved. Fine art prints and calendars from these animations are available in my Curio Shop and 20% of sales are donated to Street Health.
Click on the image to watch the films on YouTube.
A trio of videos of red winged blackbirds in flight. Sound by Tristan Zaba. Painted on rice paper with ink by Jessica Joy Hiemstra.
This film comes from a project called “Where the Alders Are,” created for Nuit Blanche (Toronto, 2023). The film (a strip of plastic caught in a tree) was projected onto a screen made of single-use plastic bags hung from a tree on the grounds of the Assembly Hall in Etobicoke (Ontario). Central to this work were questions about how to be in healthier community with all living beings, especially in places now dominated by the presence and needs of people. While there is some reason to feel hopeful, development continues to encroach on the habitat of Toronto’s animals, and plastic exemplifies this. While urban wildlife has innovated to survive alongside human activity, humans too often threaten their well-being. How do we change this? How do we innovate? How do we share space with other living beings in a way that supports and protects them? In Etobicoke, red-winged blackbirds nest in invasive phragmites, beavers lodge in retaining walls, cliff swallows nest in support structures on the Humber Bridge, grebes hatch in boxes and mute swans wouldn’t be here but for the nostalgia of settlers who emigrated from Europe. I wanted this work to encourage contemplation of our inter-relationships – with one another and with our world. It was my hope that the the audience was moved by the beauty of the plastic, captured in slow-motion and rendered by my drawings. Many thanks to the people who helped make the night special: Claren Grosz, Joshua Buwalda, and Connor Cook.
Plastic caught in a branch (no sound).
On October 10, 2024, Save the Children UK reported that 3100 children under the age of 5 had been killed since October 7, 2023, in Gaza. 710 were babies under 12 months. There are 3100 stars in this film. This animation began as a private meditation. I drew each star, one at a time, to hold each one of these children - to consider who they were and to honour them, and those who love them. I spent weeks drawing these stars and placing them in the sky. I hope that this film can be used by others to hold these children, to mourn them, and to meditate. This animation has no sound. Click on the image to view.