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“Dreams of Paradise: Non-Essential Travel in the Time of Covid” is a new series of paintings which arose out of a period of personal loss and grief into a gradual return of optimism and joy. View exhibition photos at Galerie Vieux Forgeron HERE.

As humans, we can each imagine what paradise might mean for each of us. Non-essential travel is always possible in our imaginations!  As artists, we can take our dreams and translate them into communicable images and sounds.

Begun in the black and white of our covid confined winter, tropical colours called out to me, as well as the sensation of creating a personal tropical paradise. The bright, primary colour focus of this work is as fresh and new to me as it will be to others who are familiar with my previous artwork! Each colour was tinted with many thin layers of acrylic paint until the desired intensity was reached. This contributed a lightness and transparency to the depth and flow of each painting.

"Dreams of Paradise #1 : Non-Essential Travel in the Time of Covid" 36"x36" acrylic on canvas 2021

As the “Dreams of Paradise” project evolved, it began to take on more and more metaphor and ambiguity.  Floral shapes began to possess character and contribute to a storytelling arc that included nods to the restrictions imposed upon us all, as well as shared stories of how the pandemic was changing our perspectives on our lives, making us question long held beliefs, making us rethink our priorities and who and what is important to us.  Titles of the paintings began to have double meanings, the apparent one, and one read in the covid context.

"Be Like Water, Just Flow" 24"x24" acrylic on canvas 2021

“Non-Essential Travel in the Time of Covid”, is a play on words, referencing Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s novel, “Love in the Time of Cholera” in which the lovers love in the midst of plagues and civil war.  It’s also a comment on how art and culture are sometimes considered non-essential by governments, yet it is the ongoing creativity and generosity of the cultural community that continues to help us all survive this difficult time

My hope for the exhibition is to create a space in which we are surrounded by colour and light, a space to be immersed in our imaginations, a place of respite and belief in a brighter future.

Allyna Harris 

August 1, 2021