Original Art Piece

Buyer FAQ

found natural objects (unaltered), resin, wood.

48x48x8.50"

I SPY, Terraforming (2024) was created from the expansive collection of found natural objects the artist had compiled from years of practice. Its title references the I SPY children's book series from the early 90's that was photographed by Walter Wick and depicted fantastical scenes to explore and search for hidden objects. The piece in front of you was constructed as a low table, inviting its viewers back to the ground as they would have been in their childhood. Playing with scale, it isn't clear if the work is depicting a close up of a landscape or an entire planet. Known for her environmentalist work, the artist is inviting us to remain curious about our relations with the natural world and play with what could be.

Amália received her BFA Honours with a specialization in Photography from TMU and an MFA in Communication and Culture from York University + TMU. Her MFA concluded with a published thesis on alternative research methods for artists within academia and an art exhibition entitled Re-Locating the Canadian North. The exhibit was hosted and funded by the MLC Gallery and was curated and produced in collaboration with Dorset Fine Arts.

In 2020 she received the Toronto Artscape Foundation Launchpad Bursary, which included a six-month mentorship program. During that time, Amália pivoted her art career direction to ensure her future art practice would be in the service of others.
In 2022 she established the Forest Bathing Club (FBC) and gained partnerships with the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in Kleinburg as well as Evergreen Brick Works in Toronto, showing up in both of those spaces as an Artist-Forest-Therapy-Guide.

In 2022, she began studying Expressive Art Therapies (EXAT) at a private college in Toronto. (*EXAT is an intermodal approach to art-making that encourages visual arts to be used with movement, sound, storytelling, poetry, music, vocals, and drama.) This drastically transformed her art practice which led to subsequent opportunities including creating an installation and performance piece for the 2023 Good Mourning Festival at Brick Works, offering Expressive Art Retreats at the McMichael, and writing/producing audio tours about the land and its history for TD Bank's Ignite Series.

Over the years Amália’s work has been exhibited in venues such as John B. Aird, Robert McLaughlin Gallery, OMAH, and the MLC and her work has been selected for shows such as VAM’s Annual Juried Show and the SNAP! Photography Auction.

ARTIST’S STATEMENT

Amália/Emily (she/her) is a queer Hungarian environmental interdisciplinary multi-media artist and activist based in Tkaronto/Toronto. Working within a decolonial framework, her practice explores the relationships we have with the land and the natural world. Often using found objects and materials, her work balances within a liminal space between the ordinary and otherworldly.With a strong use of colour and the tactile, her work has been called neo-folk. Fundamentally, her practice is about our own ecology. The conceptual thread weaving throughout her work is our relationship to the land, ourselves, each other, and all beings in this world.