Tina Valentine A was born in Paris in 93 and transplanted to Tiohtia:ke (Montréal) at the age of 8. Art has always been at the center of her life, leading her to obtain a BFA in Painting and Drawing at Concordia University. Recently, she completed a massive interactive installation on the queer collective body thanks to a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts. She has worked as a mentor and art teacher for InPath and is committed to giving back the knowledge she has amassed through years of devoted practice.

ARTIST’S STATEMENT

I paint from life because it is life and its invisible currents that interests me; what animates us, flowing beneath the surface. I translate these undulations of energies, myths and stories in oily saturated waves. Colors are the language of emotions, these strange powerful feelings that move us. The painted shape serves as a space to hold these intangible forces, colliding matter with magic. My focus on the naked body, not as object of desire but as vessel of memory, ancestral wisdom and resilience, is rooted in my own healing journey extended as an invitation for collective healing.