Fiona Annis is a multidisciplinary artist who develops projects through a dedicated studio-based practice, combined with research residencies, interdisciplinary collaborations, and intergenerational mentorships.
Guided by a process-oriented approach, Annis’ practice gravitates around the language of photography, and the subtle matter of light and time acts as a lens to explore themes including impermanence and metamorphosis. In extension, a focus on astral phenomena frequently appears in her projects as a means to consider notions of chance and destiny, and a platform to foster creative resistance and radical hope. In addition to photography, her research and experimentation find expression through a variety of media, including sculpture, installation, and text-based artworks.
With a distinct interest for material history, Annis engages the past through a profoundly contemporary perspective. In parallel, her affection for analogue processes often leads her to explore existing materials, images, and technologies in search of new meanings. Recovering, reinterpreting, and remediation are unique motifs at play in her practice.
Fiona Annis lives and works in Tiohtià:ke/Montréal. Fiona has been awarded several national and international fellowships, including the Brucebo Foundation travel prize, held at the Capodimonte Observatory and Museum of Astronomical Instruments in Naples; the Jarislowsky Prize, held at the Banff Centre for the Arts; and the Quebec Research Fund for Society and Culture, held at the Penumbra Foundation in New York City.
Annis is the co-founder of the The Society of Affective Archives, an entity dedicated to collaboration, the production of affective archives and the conservation of peripheral knowledge. Projects realized by The Society of Affective Archives include exhibitions, artist books, video installations and performances, as well as the creation of large-scale permanent public artworks.
