Kris Goold | On a Silver Platter

×

Expand

Kris Goold, “LYNX,” 2015

mixed media, 20.3 cm x 20.3 cm x 12.7 cm (courtesy of the Gallery)

Kris Goold is a true original. Her style is born from her mother’s Scandinavian culture and classic aesthetic paired with her father’s love of history and natural sciences. She grew up surrounded by beautifully handcrafted works in wood and metal along with all manner of interesting and odd specimens – dried, stuffed and preserved. Because of this, she understands and values the cycle of life and death, and the interconnectedness of all living things: plant, insect, animal and human.

Growing up and living in North West Ontario, Goold has an appreciation for the wild. This boreal environment is brutally challenging where only the most shrewd and hardy survive. Without asking Kris started receiving skulls as gifts from trappers and friends. She was told the story of the animal – how it died or was found. Unsure at first, she would cradle a skull, listening to see what inspiration would come. Each skull spoke to her and sparked the inspiration to create a custom armoured helm that reflected the life and death of the animal. As each piece came to her, she became increasingly sensitive to the plight of the animals from this region, as individual species and the collective boreal wilderness as a whole. Their coming together in On A Silver Platter is a not only a feast for the eyes but also a call to question whether we value the animal world and if we truly understand our place as within it.