Ava Margueritte is a neurodiverse multidisciplinary artist with a focus on photo-based works, painting and writing to express her emotional response to light. Her practice is informed by her upbringing in Northern Ontario, resulting in deeply personal and introspective imagery. The vast and desolate landscapes of the North reflect the emptiness she has felt as a woman on the spectrum. In her work, Margueritte is drawn to subjects that examine familiarity. Looking to her surroundings to understand how this narrative shifts. This introspection helps to understand how what was once foreign to becomes comfortable. The redefinition of familiarity demonstrates what it means to evolve. Using the language of contemporary photography she string together these varying thoughts and ideas, in order to express the state of ongoing comfort/discomfort. The sense of time and memory plays into her chosen medium as well. Using a medium format camera and 120 colour film to execute her ideas. Creating bodies of work is a slow craft, from photographing to post-production. Margueritte’s process plays with memory and the fine line that the analogue camera walks between romanticization and documentation. Relying on memory to dictate the accuracy of the image, to dive into the subjectivity of the image rather than objectivity. While she looks to the historical greats of photography, she approaches her craft not as documentation but as post-documentary, to articulate themes of identity, time, and impermanence.

Ava Margueritte graduated from the Ontario College of Art and Design University with a bachelor’s degree in fine arts, majoring in conceptual photography, and a diploma from the School of Photographic Arts: Ottawa. She received a grant from the City of Ottawa and the Ontario Arts Council in 2022. Margueritte has also received several recognitions, including The Marc Guertin Craftsmanship Award, for outstanding photographic craft from the School of Photographic Arts: Ottawa was shortlisted for the Athens Photo Festival and a finalist for the Project X Photography Award from the Ottawa Art Gallery, the Ottawa Arts Council and the School of Photographic Arts: Ottawa. Her work is in the City of Ottawa’s permanent art collection, in private collections, and has been exhibited nationally and internationally.


LANDFALL

Landfall explores the importance of support networks and the natural environment in mental health. Having lived with multiple neurodiverse conditions since I was young, including depression and anxiety, I have learned that often my needs do not align with societal expectations. In creating portraits of individuals from my community and the places in which I seek solace and refuge, my photographic series highlights my lived experience navigating an uncertain world with invisible disabilities.

This work conveys the nuance beyond binaries, revealing that mental health is never static. Our well-being is shaped by a complex interplay of environments, living conditions, employment, and even the weather. Each person moves to their own natural rhythms, and sometimes the demands of societal structures are rigid and unyielding, superseding their personal needs. By striving to always meet the expectations of others, we are at risk of failing ourselves and becoming more vulnerable to symptoms of anxiety and depression.

Landfall brings attention to mental health by illustrating its continuous, cyclical presence and challenging conventional narratives about this universal human experience. My images juxtapose the fluidity of nature with the rigidity of society, visually expressing the delicate balance of self-acceptance. Through sharing my story, I transform a solitary experience into one of connection. Now more than ever, we need to promote greater awareness of mental illness during these unprecedented and chaotic times and reflect on the quiet politics of simply existing.

- Ava Margueritte