Our Artists
Gail Hinchliffe, BFA, MFA’24
Building Relationship with the Land: A Contemplative Practice Awakening the Senses
The basis of Gail’s recently completed MFA research creation asked how a settler puts aside the paradigm of domination over the land and live in relationship with the Land. How do we mediate our disconnection with the Land and understand we are just one of many species in an interconnected world of conscious beings? Finally, how do we enter a landscape that is alive and waiting to be met, understood, and listened to?
These questions shaped the beginning of a two-year project to discover an intuitive way of knowing that transcends politicalized history and societal norms. Determining how building relationship with the Land can transform internalized western constraints has the potential for new narratives recognizing commonality in a world of diversity. It can be the beginning of a refreshed connection with the Land and a catalyst for change. Awakening the senses can con contribute to understanding that the Earth’s ecosystem is based on the interdependence of all species, including human; ignorance of this relationship has fostered destructive forces upon the Earth.
For two years Gail, and over 30 participants, visited the eastern woodlands of the Kiyooka Ohe Arts Centre (KOAC) developing a contemplative approach to building a relationship with the Land which centers on the importance of individual experience and story sharing through awakening the senses. Many participants acknowledged their separation from nature due to busy schedules and welcomed the respite experienced through the woodland exploration. A few noted that being in nature had become more of a transactional experience through hiking or skiing. Awareness of senses brought reflective attention on their lived experiences or formed a metaphor for life transitions. Gratitude and inspiration were acknowledged as well as the realization that humans also are part of nature and form a vital role in sustaining the Earth’s ecological balance.
The project culminated in the development of an exploration guide on awakening the senses to provide a contemplative approach to enter the woodlands. Upon publication, it will be included on the KOAC website. A companion video is included below.
Gail Hinchliffe
Gail has lived for close to eight decades in Alberta and has a continued love of open grasslands. Her undergraduate studies began with Brome Grass. This plant was introduced to the western prairies in the late 1800s when her grandparents immigrated to central Alberta as farmers. Originally introduced as an agriculture grain, the grass quickly spread on its own throughout the prairies. It is particularly prevalent in areas where the ground has been disrupted and serves to prevent soil erosion, such as on riverbanks. Brome Grass has become a metaphor for the unintended consequences of human impact on the Land.
Concluding an extensive career in development, ownership, and operation of assisted living and memory care residences in Alberta, Gail embarked on a new journey in her early 70s. Wishing to see the world and her place in it through a new lens she graduated with a BFA (distinction) from the Alberta University of the Arts in 2022. This enlightened her to new ways of knowing influenced by Indigenous studies and ecological economics. Graduating with her MFA in 2024 from the University of Calgary, her research focused on building relationship with the Land from a settler perspective.
As an urban dweller with settler roots, she understood her disconnection with the Land and recognized the desire to building a relationship with the Land to develop another way of knowing in the spirts of humility and reciprocity.
Gail is an active member of several art collectives which center on building relationship with the Land and experience of place. Her chosen medium is photography – both digital and analog.
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The Kiyooka Ohe Arts Centre is a place for art and artists, for the curious, for the novice and for the expert alike – everyone is welcome to visit, to make, to learn and to talk about contemporary art, whether by traversing our sculpture grounds and gardens, or visiting (when appropriate) with our artists in studio or via our digital forums and workshops.
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