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The best nest

The Best Nest examines the shifting concept of 'home' as it evolves through different phases of life, viewed through the lens of intersectional feminism.  Utilizing a range of three-dimensional media, the series explores the interplay between our perceptions of home, our identity, and the search for belonging.

 

By considering how factors such as gender, culture, and lived experience shape and redefine our understanding of home, the work invites viewers to reflect on its significance as both a personal sanctuary and a site of broader social and cultural dynamics.

Phoenix Rising

The three wire bands encircling the sculpture symbolize the pursuit of home and the instinct to protect. The carved wood is charred using a technique inspired by shou sugi ban, a traditional Japanese method of preserving wood through fire. Fractured pieces are stitched together with rusted fence wire, emphasizing resilience and repair. A fragment of screen from an old wooden door cradles a bird’s nest, threaded with gold to represent the light and goodness at the heart of home.

Refuge

My quest for "home" has been rooted in the belief that home should be a soft place to fall when the weight and the chaos of the world becomes too much. An anchor in stormy seas. "We all need such a place- to escape, to heal, to find our peace. A refuge."

Palimpsest

Through this work, I explore how home is defined and protected, and how histories—personal and collective—shape our identities over time. The materials in the piece are both personal and universal, symbolizing resilience, loss, and the ongoing quest for place.

Fragile Resistance

This assemblage of found objects—fragments of domestic life—explores resilience, displacement, and the instinct to create shelter in both physical and psychological landscapes. The box, neither fully closed nor entirely open, becomes a metaphor for these tensions—a space between exposure and protection, survival and erasure, vulnerability and resilience.

Threadbare Defenses

Threadbare Defences challenges viewers to question the effectiveness of protective emotional and psychological barriers over time. The materials used speak to the barriers that we build around ourselves - protective yet isolating.

© 2025 Chris Chrysler  All Rights Reserved.

"I would like to express my gratitude to all the First Nation, Métis and Inuit who have been traditional and contemporary stewards of this land we call Canada.

I acknowledge that I live and create on the traditional territory of the Anishinaabe, Kanien'Kehaka, Haudenosaunee, and Oneida Peoples, as well as the Upper Canada Treaties that bind us together. I pay my respects to Elders past, present, and emerging, and recognize their deep connection to Turtle Island and their tireless efforts in caring for and preserving this land since time immemorial.  As an artist and visitor on this land, I understand my responsibility to uplift Indigenous voices where possible, and I am committed to deepening my understanding of local Indigenous peoples and their cultures."

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