Juliana Gagné is a multidisciplinary artist and writer with a BFA in Fine Arts from Parsons School of Design. They are currently pursuing an MFA in Interdisciplinary Art, Media and Design and live with their husband, two rescue cats and Labradoodle in North York. Juliana often works with experimental 35mm photos that are "film souped", meaning the entire disposable camera is submerged in a "soup" of various liquids, detergents and spices, including dunking the camera in natural water sources. Cameras are frozen and thawed before developing and not edited. Juliana's work explores themes of immigration, family stories, place-memory, and hauntings.
Sand Dunes and Sap Buckets
Photo collage with dried cedar, roughly 12" x 30", 2025
Accompanying installation on a plinth contains a clam shell, beach glass,
seashells, quartz, pinecones, birch bark and a small mason jar of maple syrup
These collages are made from disposable cameras that were submerged in a "film soup", the camera was frozen and thawed before developing and the final images were not edited. The vistas and collaged panorama of the Atlantic Ocean were taken in the Pamet Valley on Cape Cod, a place Juliana called home for six years before relocating to attend OCAD. The biggest change in moving countries came with trading the Atlantic Ocean for Lake Ontario. The figures reflect the constant in Juliana's life, their partner and dog, Soup, who took a chance in moving with them to Tkaronto (Toronto). The maple trees were digital photos that Juliana took during the course of a land-based art residency at Black Creek Community Farm to assist with the maple harvest. Despite Juliana being born and raised in the (so-called) US, they have French-Canadian ancestry through their paternal family and the maple harvest was a beautiful experience that brought up childhood and ancestral memories around maples tree and producing maple syrup. The cedar glued to the base of a maple tree reflected the traditions and ceremony around the maple harvest. Turtle Island is one landmass and the border separating "home" from a new city is merely a colonial construct and a line drawn on a map, hence the symbolic separation of the US and Canada through the map. The maple harvest was the first instance where Juliana felt really grounded and connected to their new home.
