By Don Urquhart, Times Chronicle
A year on from graduating from Osoyoos Secondary School, 19-year-old artist Nakisa Sanai is returning home for the summer with a body of work that’s anything but typical, even for the substantial and diverse spectrum of local artistry.
Sanai has been busy in Vancouver where she is a Media Arts student at the prestigious Emily Carr University.
And while she may be living the “big city” life and attending what is arguably one of the top arts schools in the world (in fact ranked number one in Canada and in the top 30 globally), it’s clear speaking with her that her small-town Okanagan roots have kept her grounded.
Sanai’s works will be featured at Wayside Select Books & Art from May 1-30 with an opening reception during the First Friday Art Walk on May 1. Her show, “‘Fantastical’ Multiple Media” will feature paintings, 3D/sculptural items, stills from a stop-motion short film titled “Everkeep” and the film itself will be available for viewing as well. The young artist will also be on hand to answer questions.
A still image from Nakisa Sanai’s stop-motion short film “Ever Keep”.
Contributed photo
“I’m super excited,” Sanai exuberantly bubbles. “It’s my first time ever, you know, to display my work other than at high school.
“And, yeah, I’m really excited to see what people around here think, because I’ve shown it to a lot of people online . . . but it’s sort of like the people that see it, are already interested in that stuff. So it will be interesting to see what a new audience thinks about it; how different people interpret it around here, I think that’ll be cool!” she says.
“I’m just sort of exploring a lot of identity and innocence and femininity in my work and trying to see how people interpret that.”
Her work spans multimedia sculpture, medieval-style weaponry, acrylic painting, and – most recently and probably most intensely – her stop motion film, “Ever Keep”.
“Right now I’m focused a lot on stop motion film. I think it’s a very, you know, intricate, intimate and quiet way to tell stories. And I’m very fascinated by how people interpret those stories when they’re just sort of told quietly.”
She adds that her film doesn’t spell everything out. In fact, it intentionally resists giving audiences a clear, tidy narrative. “I do think that with my film, I left it very, very heavily up to interpretation,” she explains.
Artwork by Nakisa Sanai.
Contributed photo
Sanai says the short film took her nearly three months working a few hours every night after she came home from school to complete it. She explains that in order to control the light she needed the darkness of night to construct her film.
“Everything in my stop motion is completely handmade, like every single part of it – I do the whole process on my own.”
As for her experience being in Vancouver and attending Emily Carr she says: “Yeah it was pretty cool! It was completely different from the life that I’m accustomed to here. The whole ‘big city of Vancouver’, so many other creative people, so many new opportunities.
“And you know, you’re just surrounded by art all the time, it was super cool. Now I’m back and I’m like, ‘it’s pretty quiet here’,” she laughs. It will be a summer of work, art and possibly relaxation too, she says.
And as one would guess, Sanai has been creating from virtually day one. “My mom always says, ‘she’s been creating art since she could hold a pencil’, it’s really annoying, she says it all the time,” she giggles.
Artwork by Nakisa Sanai.
Contributed photo
As to where this is all going, she says: “I’ve never really had a clear motive, and I kind of still don’t. I just like creating and seeing what happens.”
But truth be told there is indeed a rough direction. Her four year program for a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Media Arts will ensconce her in everything to do with art and film – screen arts essentially, she suggests.
She says it will open up a “whole bunch of different avenues” including cinematography, special effects, makeup, costume design, set design, sound design, “basically every aspect that is put into a film you can learn there, which is really interesting, because I’m super like, I need to do a bunch of different things, I hate just being limited to one thing.”
Still early in her studies and having just turned 19, a wide range of career options at the end of it combined with her “no holds barred” attitude, it would be fair to say, the world is truly her oyster.
“‘Fantastical’ Multiple Media” by Nakisa Sanai will be showing from May 1-30 at Wayside Select Books & Art, 8317 Main St., Osoyoos. An opening reception with the artist will be held during the First Friday Art Walk on May 1 from 4-7 p.m.
