New digital art display challenges people to explore ideas of identity

A few years ago, Jacen Dennis and his classmates were sitting on a big rock in a lake during a university summer intensive.

Eagles circled in the sky above them.

Suddenly, a feather started to slowly spiral down from the sky. It landed a few feet away from Dennis and he picked it up.

At that point, Dennis said he felt more connected then ever with not only nature, but himself. It was an important moment of realization, he said, and fueled his confidence to help him move through his transition.

“This work, I am really creating this for other young trans people, young queer people trying to figure things out,” he said of his digital artwork hanging behind him at the Rotary Centre for the Arts (RCA). “[To] show that yes, some of our bodies are not the standard, but they are very beautiful in whatever form those bodies take.”

Dennis is one of two artists involved in the fall Light Up Kelowna digital urban screen series, 2021 Pride. It features two queer artists, whose work captures how inner thoughts can manifest in bodily form, pulling viewers into a conversation about identity.

Dennis said his digital art celebrates trans and queer bodies, belongingness, and community. It draws inspiration from an earlier time in his transition, where he was unsure about many things and navigating the experience.

“I hope some of the characterization of the drawings gives some pause to what beautiful bodies look like? What do accepted bodies look like?” he said. “I think queer and trans bodies are beautiful and should be accepted. People going by … I hope they can share in that beauty that I see.”

Dennis is a graduate of both the Bachelor of Fine Arts and Master of Fine Arts programs at the University of British Columbia Okanagan (UBCO). He is currently a sessional instructor in the Department of Creative and Critical Studies.

Also involved in the fall session is Kaytlyn Barkved, a queer disabled artist and a graduate student in the Interdisciplinary Graduate Studies program at UBCO.

Her work contemplates the intersections of disability, sexuality, and gender identity and features images from her thesis work Neuroqueer Imaging.

Light Up Kelowna is a partnership between the Arts Council of the Central Okanagan (ARTSCO), the RCA, and the UBCO Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies. It aims to introduce art, in the night, into the community.

ARTSCO Executive Director Kirsteen McCulloch said the idea for digital art was born out the early days of the pandemic. Limited in how they could put on exhibitions, the group, like many others, was forced to pivot, and landed on digital art.

“[It is] about bringing light into the darkness and engaging the community in conversation,” she said. “Bringing artists to display their work and sometimes tackle social issues that are a little bit more challenging. But through art, it opens a conversation and dialogue with the community that otherwise may not happen.”

The display at RCA runs until Nov. 28. The next series will be announced soon and start in December. It is anticipated the displays will run into the end of March or beginning of April, weather dependent.