| ARTIST BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH: | Freelance photographer and artist Josie Chu was born in Banff, Alberta. She studied art and design at Red Deer College before transferring to the University of Calgary. There she studied photography and sculpture and earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1997. Josie began freelancing in 1996, and has also worked as a graphics coordinator, an instructor, and a special events photographer.
Using what she calls sculpturized photography, Josie creates three-dimensional miniature pieces that are accessible, colourful and toy-like. Inspired by her own experiences, Josie attempts to capture the nostalgia of childhood and take the viewer back to into their own past. She looks at how childhood perceptions shape who we are today and explores the hierarchy of the family unit, as well as highlighting her own experiences in a traditional Chinese family living in Canadian society. Working with elements of drawing, sculpture, photography and paintings, Josie’s pieces are either presented as sculpture, or photographs of sculpture, bringing the viewer into the past in order to help them understand their present.
Josie’s photographs have been shown in exhibitions in Calgary, Edmonton, Red Deer, Lacombe, Vancouver and Fredericton. Some of her pieces are held by the Muttart Public Art Gallery, the University of Calgary and the Alberta Foundation of the Arts. |