Untitled Reflections | Aukje Kapteyn
A response to Braxton Garneau’s Untitled Series.
Shining through all of Braxton Garneau’s art is the importance of family, roots, cultural history, and connection. Braxton’s Untitled series, a response to the restrictions in place to mitigate the rapid spread of COVID-19, exhibits this clearly. There is a strong evocation of feeling in these small paintings. The pain of being disconnected, physically distant, and generally anxious, is shot through with resilience, adaptation, and the sheer strength of love and humour. From these pieces one can be convinced of the strong links with family that Braxton both experiences and cultivates.
Braxton has three younger siblings whose faces appear on these small paintings, as well as the faces of his cousins. I am connected to these lovely faces, as they are all my grandchildren. In some ways I may be biased in feeling what I do when I see these, but the truth is that all his art engenders the same feelings.
Since I have known Braxton, I have watched both his technique and his depth develop. The art that he has created and shown over the years has the quality of engaging the viewer, inviting us to have another look at what we may have accepted as truth about our world, all the while presenting us with beauty. Threaded through technically and artistically mature art, are underlying allusions to the experience of oppression, diaspora, slavery, racism and forced disengagement from ancient values. However, while his art acknowledges these historical realities of suffering, it also acknowledges spirit, strength, creativity and celebration. The result is artistic expression that relies on and is gleaned from cultural, historical and environmental research and storytelling. This highlights a very personal path to adapt and form a new reality.
While some of his art represents the dark side of humanity and can shake us up some, within that there is a sense of movement and change. The result is a sense of power so strong that we witness an embracing of what was, what is and what can be.
Portraits are the bulk of what Braxton is painting these days. I am awed by his ability to instill so many layered truths in a face. They are not superficial representations by any means. As observer, they require us to study, contemplate, and be with the personality that has sprung from the canvas. There is an invitation, albeit with respectful reticence, to learn more.
Braxton also has the tendency to represent the larger narrative in what could be anyone. Anyone with a story to tell, a story we might not have heard before, a story we are longing to know because in its knowing we will be awoken, enhanced or inspired.
About the Author
Aukje Kapteyn is a 72-year-old woman whose chosen career has been working with First Nations communities as a counselling therapist for the past 32 years.
She is mother of three children and grandmother of seven. She is the oldest of a family of eight children and immigrated to Canada from the Netherlands with her family at age 12.
She was raised surrounded by an extended family of talented musicians, photographers, artists and writers. While appreciating music and art, her own preferable medium is writing. She has published poetry, feature articles, and stories.
Her work in First Nations Communities has given her deeper insight into the long-term effects of colonialism, racism and threat of cultural demise. She has written poetry and articles to reflect this.
Strong family ties have superseded the far-flung distance of siblings, cousins, aunts and uncles.
Family gatherings have nourished the creativity, playfulness, humour, and tenacity of family members to pursue their own dreams.