Kay Slater

photo of kay, in a yellow coat, posing in front of artwork in a gallery
Image Description: Person (Kay) wearing a yellow raincoat stands in front of a white gallery wall on which 3 works of art are displayed. Photo credit: Tom Quirk, 2018

Instagram: @kdotca
Unceded Coast Salish MST Territory/Vancouver
Collective Member.

Artist Statement

“I like to explore concepts of worth using unconventional materials and by questioning traditional display and exhibition standards – especially through a lens focused on accessibility. I obsessively archive my process and am constantly working to embrace mistakes. I build workshops and host events that help participants value (and delight in) the act of making which ultimately reduces the pressure people feel to create a finished, perfect product.”

Kay Slater, 2019

Bio

Kay Slater is a multidisciplinary artist. An illustrator, preparator, arts worker, and creative problem solver, their artistic practice explores value as it relates to experience and expectations.

Kay is committed to expanding art making opportunities where both verbal and non-verbal communication is used and where no one is ever turned away for lack of skill or understanding. Kay is hard of hearing, and hopes you’ll face them or use captions online when communicating. They subscribe to the philosophy of the New Sincerity which strives to “be more awesome”.

Kay uses fluid pronouns in person, and They/Them/Theirs exclusively online.

They have a European settler heritage and are currently living and working as an uninvited guest on the lands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm ( Musqueam ), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh ( Squamish ) and səl̓ilwətaɁɬ ( Tsleil-Waututh ) peoples. Their professional practice involves showing work on stolen territory and they are currently engaged in conversation and self-examination on what it means to gain a living by taking up space on occupied territory to be talking about, transporting, and showing work made on similarly occupied, or stolen land. What does it mean to respect the land, its stewards, its history, and its present, and perpetuate Eurocentric, and colonial systems for profit on stolen land? How do you work within this hypocrisy and build trust, knowledge, and, perhaps eventually, respect?

Visual description:

Kay is a white, middle aged person with greying shoulder length hair. They have shaved sides and often wear their messy salt and pepper coloured hair up and away from their face. They have brown eyes, a double-pierced nose and lip on opposing sides, and large rosy cheeks. They have a large smile that crinkles the corner of their eyes and exposes slightly yellowish teeth.

The Papercut Arcade Projects: