Tess Collens | Faded Ink

“Faded Ink” is a project that looks into the way people create and lose their memories. With themes of identity, personhood and nostalgia, “Faded Ink” comes to life through a series of different studies. These studies include oil paintings, watercolour pencil drawings and multimedia works.

This project was inspired by mental health struggles and the issues surrounding the way people retain and store memory. Although each work has its own style and technique they all reflect the same thing, a need to understand ourselves and the world we perceive around us.

In my work, I create portraits in the hope to find an idea or story in the way each person is captured. Throughout my time at Emily Carr, I worked to understand the ways in which concept is important in an artist’s practice. In my practice, I look to portraiture to find my concept. I seek to help express not only what I feel through my work but also help create ways to access subjects difficult to understand.

Tess Collens’ grew up in Vancouver, B.C. and first attended art school at NSCAD (Nova Scotia College of Art and Design) before transferring to Emily Carr University of Art and Design.  She is currently based out of Comox, a small town on Vancouver Island.

Instagram: @carribeanjerk