Jessica Lin is a Canadian artist with a love of travel and adventure, and a curiosity about the natural world around us and the connections that hold us all together. A professional photographer for 25 years, she always felt that her images taken while traveling fell short of capturing the wonder of being somewhere new. She has spent the past 13 years developing her unique imaginary landscape photography style, where she extracts elements from her various photographs, recomposing them to create whimsical scenes.
In 2017, Jessica began a meditation practice that had a strong impact on her artistic practice. Curious about the potential to deliberately trigger feelings of calmness and happiness, she created an immersive installation entitled “The Serenity Experience”. This installation has now been adapted half a dozen times, as well as expanded into an interactive retreat. It continues to evolve with each new setting.
During the many months of varying degrees of pandemic lock-down in Toronto, Jessica found herself deeply considering the concept of “home”. She spent dozens of hours walking in local green spaces with her husband. They had many conversations about the natural world around them, and how they could create a life that was more connected to it. This resulted in a body of work entitled “There’s No Place Like Home”, where she blended the realities of interior domestic spaces and exterior wilderness spaces. The experience also led to a major life shift – she and her husband made the move from a 600-square-foot house in Toronto to a 42-acre forest and garden property in the beautiful Madawaska Valley. Their current project is a multi-year collaborative art installation around the property, with the first step being a sleepover immersive art installation at the edge of the forest. Guests staying there will have wonderful opportunities to connect with the abundant natural surroundings, while being encouraged to notice the magic in the everyday world around us. Jessica is also working on building the gardens she would like to photograph for future layered artwork.
This artwork is printed using archival inks and processes, and protected with an artist UV varnish to ensure that the pieces will maintain their vibrancy for decades to come. All of the sanding, staining, mounting, and varnishing is done by Jessica and her husband, in her home studio in Killaloe, Ontario.
