Jude + Brendan Griebel

Brendan is an Arctic archaeologist and cultural anthropologist based in Nunavut, Canada. His work focuses on the documentation and reconstruction of traditional technologies through land-based workshops and the recording of community memories. Brendan has a PhD in Anthropology, and his current research investigates the tangled lives of humans and objects through recourse to such items as amulets, material mnemonics and children’s toys. Jude’s artwork is driven by themes of psychology and transformation. Depicting bodies in various states of composition, it examines how our imagination negotiates abstract notions such as growth, change and mortality through metaphorical and experiential avenues. Sculptural bodies, created from papier-mâché and epoxy resin become sites of fusion, in which physical anatomy is merged with allegorical counterparts. These altered bodies are then painted in a subdued oil palette. Their representational nature is reminiscent of museum dioramas, taxidermy and didactic science models, causing them to waiver between fact and a sense of unease and mystery. When exhibited together, the works produce an intertwining narrative of transition and longing.