Rebecca Cairns

Volume 1 Issue 1

www.issuu.com/oil./2

Creator

Shonda White is an Aboriginal art-ist, musician, and aspiring animator from Stephenville, Newfoundland. Oil Magazine was brought to life by her desire to connect to the interna-tional art scene in a new way and share it with others. She now lives in Guelph, Ontario.

Editor

Joanna Gutowska is a Canadian student and graphic designer cur-rently living in Mississauga, On-tario. Influenced by print media and her Slavic heritage, she wants to make art a commonplace under-standing. Oil Magazine is her op-portunity to do so.

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Oil Magazine is a magazine dedicated to artists from all across the world. Each month, Oil highlights the background, work, achievements, inspirations and intricacies of one artist.

CONTACT: oilmagazine@outlook.com

TWITTER: @OilMagazine FACEBOOK: Oil Magazine

COVER by Rebecca Cairns

All photos by Rebecca Cairns unless stated otherwise.

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“Being creative means to voice a light that is within one’s

stomach, heart and head.”

REBECCA CAIRNS

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Canadian artist Rebecca Cairns was born in Toronto, Ontario and raised in the Greater Toronto Area. Her home is borderless, as she now resides in Montreal, Quebec and previously spent some time living in Ber-lin, Germany.

Cairns naturally excelled in art-based courses during her secondary school years. She moved forward to study creative photography at Humber College. Three years

after finishing her program, Cairns is currently re-ap-plying to universities to begin studying again, an obvi-ous example that learning never really stops. Learning does go beyond the classroom, though. Drawn to the music, art scene and culture of Berlin, it was the per-fect place for Cairns to explore new ground, meet new people, draw new inspirations, and share her art within Europe.

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“I suppose I can’t entirely explain the pull that was within me, but it just felt like the right place to be during that period of time.”

“What ten words would you use to describe yourself?”

quietdetermined

cynicalpensivefatalist

awkwarddreamerwandererambitious

nomad

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Moving to Berlin seemed to be the ideal next step for Cairns as her creative juices flowed, her photography flourished, and she added many exhibitions to her list of accomplishments. One of Cairns’s favourite exhibi-tions took place in Berlin and was a collaboration with German artist and friend Utku Tavil. Her solo show with Akasha Art Projects held last year also holds a special place in her heart as a very positive happening. “I was so pleased to work with such fabulous curators who were supportive of what I was doing,” Cairns ex-plained.

Upcoming Shows/Exhibitions2012 March 7 | SNAP! Live Auction and Gala | 571 Adelaide St. E. Toronto2012 exhibition (date TBA) | ‘Daguerre’, Brno, Czech Republic

Past Shows/Exhibitions2012 Splice Group Show | UofT Art Centre, Toronto2012 Splice Group Show | Blackwood Gallery, Mississauga2012 “Anonymia” Group Show | OCAD Student Gallery, Toronto, Canada.2012 Group Show | Galerie Sakura, Paris2012 Personae Group Show | Castell Photography Gallery, North Carolina 2012 August | Iseamonster Group Show | The Gladstone Gallery, Toronto 2012 “Two and a Quarter” Contact Group Exhibition | The Lomography Store/Gallery, Toronto2012 Exhibition with Utku Tavil | Black Board/515 Creative Shop, Berlin, Germany 2012 “Modern Love” Group Show | The Print Space, London, England.2012 Solo Exhibition | “The Club”, Berlin, Germany. 2012 Neu-OWL-Kiez Design and Art market | Sameheads Gallery, Berlin, Germany. 2012 “Inchoate” Solo Exhibition | Akasha Art Projects, Toronto2011 Photoboite “30 Under 30” online exhibition of female photographers 2011 Feroces Festival de Photographie | Lyon, France2011 Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition | Toronto2011 “Escapism or how to lose the plot” Group Show | Museum of Young Art, Vienna 2011 ‘Anthology’ Group Show | Twist Gallery, Toronto2010 ‘Essence de la Lumiere’ Group Show | Twist Gallery, Toronto

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That being said, finding support can be one of the big-gest blockades in an artist’s life. Common stereotypes suggest an artist’s life to be poor and impractical, fre-quently perpetuated by unsupportive families. With the odds against them, what is it that keeps artists going? For Cairns, it’s personal fulfillment, an understanding family, and a community of pleasant, inspiring and cre-ative people. All of this encourages her to keep her chin up even when things aren’t going as planned.

The young photographer takes all of her experiences as important lessons. On the odd occasion, bad company has been kept, but Cairns thinks of their unresponsive-ness and lack of support as a valuable life lesson. Un-fortunately, the dreaded creative block is also a realistic experience for most, whether it’s writing or painting. Cairns experiences a similar artistic block on a more regular basis now than in previous years, but she is well aware of how she can overcome it. Going outside of her comfort zone to places that are isolated and quiet allow her to reconnect with nature or hidden and deso-late places, helping to push past the periods of frustra-tion. She takes it with a grain of salt by stating that, “I believe that they are a crucial and necessary tool which aids in further development and growth.”

“I just couldn’t envision myself doing anything else. In the end,

it is the thing that I come

home to at the end of the day.”

More often than not, things just fall into your hands. How else can you describe it? In a way, the stars just align to be that way and it feels right. That’s exactly how photography happened for Rebecca and is the rea-son she has stuck with it for so long.

“[Photography] just felt natural, like I had finally come in contact with a feeling that I had been waiting for my

whole life.”

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“Which artists do you look up to and are inspired by?””

Diane Arbus, Three Puerto Rican ladies, NYC (1963)

Francesca Woodman, Polka Dots (1976)Deborah Turbeville, Bath House (1975)

Sally Mann, From The Battlefields Series (2000-2003) Henri Cartier-Bresson, Mexcio City, Mexico (1934)

“Which artists do you look up to and are inspired by?””

Francesca Woodman, Polka Dots (1976) Duane Michals, Violent Women (1982)

Cindy Sherman, Untitled Film Still #3 (1977)

Ralph Meatyard, Romance from Ambrose Bierce #3 (1962)

Joel-Peter Witkin, Ars Moriendi (2007)

Henri Cartier-Bresson, Mexcio City, Mexico (1934)

“My (personal) relationship with digital cameras is one that is malleable; always changing and taking different forms. If the option is there to shoot film first, I would certainly pick

that over digital any day.”

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Photography has never been typical from Cairns’s cre-ative eye. She started by shooting with digital cameras and has since moved far away from it. In a digital age, she works with film and analogue based means as long as her wallet doesn’t grunt and groan about it. A hand-me-down 35mm Fujica from her father is special and often used, as is the recent addition to her camera col-lection, an Agfa Isolette.

Cairns’s longing to explore painting and drawing again has led her to begin incorporating other mediums and combining them with her photographic processes. Mak-ing images from more than typical photographic mate-rial is one example. This has resulted in plans for future performances and installation based works, hopefully to be seen within the next year.

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Cairns commonly distorts and damages her images in order to bring attention to the subject matter and draw intense emotion from the viewer. She usually does this after processing the photos, and occasionally tries to do it before or during the processing. This has left Cairns with collections of unique photos. It is not always in-tentional damage, but it’s a lot of experimentation and exploration of her curiosities.

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“I spend a lot of time thinking about the

layers in-between the known and unknown and often find myself drawing inspiration

from things as simple as the way that the morning light falls

on the walls.”

Inspiration can spawn from anywhere, often from the depths of an unwanted place, but being able to act on that inspiration can be a challenge for some. Being able to fearlessly explore the unknown is what makes Cairns’s artwork stand out.

When inspiration strikes, Cairns sometimes spends months letting it dance around to see what else the idea

could develop into. Sketches, as well as mental and physical preparation, lead up to the completion of the project. Other days, she will pick up a camera and shoot during the moment. Cairns’s ability to let the subject act naturally and let the surrounding environment influence them brings a unique quality to her photos. The camera often seems to be unnoticed and simply observing from the distance.

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“I just like to show others what I see

through my own eyes.”

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Quite often, Cairns is the subject of her photos. Since the beginning of her career in photography, she has been shooting mostly self-portraits. “There is some-thing alluring about the act of creating a self-portrait, in any form or with any medium - mostly for its honesty and sincerity,” Cairns stated. “I often think to myself that ‘I would like to take a photograph, right now,’ but I don’t often say ‘I would like to take a photograph of myself right now.’ I am fully aware of the fact that I am indeed photographing myself, but I prefer to stay neu-tral and provoke some kind of anonymity. I want people to create their own stories and meanings of my work.”

Cairns also creates an anonymity through titling, or should we say, a lack there of. The young artist finds that titles can be important and sometimes necessary, but it more often serves to remove the intended context of her works. This also applies to how she views writ-ing or musical pieces. Most believe that the purpose of art is to allow the viewer to apply their own meanings and interpretations before being given any additional information such as a title. Cairns would like this for her own photographs, and even withholds information in her artist’s statements to help create that full experi-ence.

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“I don’t think I considered my-self to be an artist five years ago; it’s even hard for me to title myself as one now. I do know that I have progressed significantly, both mentally and physically, as I’ve learned so much from others and my surroundings. I think a lot

changed in 1825 days.”

It is because of her unique and sophisticated perspective that Rebecca Cairns stands out as an exceptional artist and an inspiration to young artists of the present time. Her poise and grace are evident through her work and words, as well as her attention to the most delicate of details. She continues to take each moment as a valuable lesson and apply it with great care to

inspire and influence her own life.

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“One must always possess per-sistence, drive, and ambition. In order to move forward, you must have your heart and head com-

pletely entwined in your creative field. It can be very hard on the soul at times, especially when

you are first ‘starting’ to follow your path... but the reward is

endless gratitude, and you will certainly meet some extremely talented and interesting human

beings along the way.”