My conceptual art practice examines how the common human habit of collecting objects and ascribing them meaning plays a role in the formation of knowledge systems – knowledge of the self, knowledge of others, and knowledge of the external world. As an artist, I am interested in how collections imbue histories, whether they are of a personal, cultural, or scientific nature, and how humans use objects to prioritize or preserve certain narratives over others.
I use rocks, family archives, found objects, poetry, and sound as recurring characters or visual devices in an ongoing, ever-changing personal archive. These objects are collected and presented with particular attention and care to demonstrate how narrative structures can emerge from the formal structures of display.
Often using conceptual, humorous, poetic, or collaborative approaches with a view to create relationships between objects, I hope to expand parameters that are open enough for multiple meanings to occur within a space. I use artistic practice as an experimental and self-reflexive tool to approach these narratives, working in systems, but subverting hierarchies, in an effort to create dialogue with the viewer.
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Lea Hamilton (b. 1992) is a Canadian artist living in Ottawa, Ontario. She received her MFA from the University of Ottawa in 2024, and her BFA in 2014. She is a member of Common Ground Collective, and the Ottawa-Gatineau Printmakers Connective.
Lea gratefully acknowledges the support of the Ontario Arts Council and the City of Ottawa for her practice with Common Ground Collective in 2019.