Mary-Jane Laronde is a Bonnechere Algonquin emerging Indigenous artist who grew up on the unceded territory of the Secwepemc peoples. Mary-Jane is currently practicing on the traditional territory of the Lək'ʷəŋən people during her BFA study. Mary-Jane has had the opportunity to explore her practice in Atotonilco, Mexico. The works created in Mexico were shown at the University of Victoria Audain gallery for Mary-Jane’s first solo show, Between Now and Then. Both of these experiences were able to happen with the Alan Steven John award in Visual Arts from the University of Victoria.
My work is driven by a passion for creation and a deep engagement with psychic intuition as an embodied knowing. Primarily working sculpturally with metals. I follow the natural tendencies of the material, allowing intuition and the medium to guide the form rather than imposing a predetermined form. My pieces are dense with repetition, pattern, and physical labor, reflecting my interest in processes and how meaning is built through repeated action. Repetition as a symbol of obsession, ritual, memory, and devotion. Showing creation as more than a process; it is an act of survival, it is essential. Life without creation is simply unimaginable.
