Tulips and Cardinal by Kristin Sjaarda

Kristin Sjaarda is a photographer based in Toronto, Ontario, where she lives and works. Using the style of Dutch Golden Age painters as a jumping-off point, and objects passed down from her Dutch grandmother’s family, Sjaarda photographs flowers grown in her downtown Toronto neighbourhood alongside the flora and fauna that live and thrive in our urban environment.

While the 17th-century artworks were made in an era of expansion and exploitation, Sjaarda’s images strive to preserve what is now threatened by climate change. The birds are loaned from the Royal Ontario Museum, and insects from the Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory. The images are a reflection of both the artist's heritage and the city that she lives in, and are printed and presented at larger-than-life scale to render these fragile subjects in a manner that is powerful, provocative, and immersive.

Artist Bio  (PDF)