Excerpt from A BRAVE AND STARTLING TRUTH
by Maya Angelou
We, this people, on this small and drifting planet
Whose hands can strike with such abandon
That in a twinkling, life is sapped from the living
Yet those same hands can touch with such healing, irresistible tenderness
That the haughty neck is happy to bow
And the proud back is glad to bend
Out of such chaos, of such contradiction
We learn that we are neither devils nor divines
When we come to it
We, this people, on this wayward, floating body
Created on this earth, of this earth
Have the power to fashion for this earth
A climate where every man and every woman
Can live freely without sanctimonious piety
Without crippling fear
When we come to it
We must confess that we are the possible
We are the miraculous, the true wonder of this world
That is when, and only when
We come to it.
.
.
.
#mixedmedia on panel “The Human Condition” #niknazk #painting #vancouverartist #beautyisresistance
Everything is on fire,
but everyone I love is doing beautiful things
and trying to make life worth living,
and I know I don’t have to believe in everything,
but I believe in that.
- Nikita Gill
.
.
#beauty #love #community #visualpoetry
A beautiful start to my first day of work in 2025. Wishing for more light, presence, and compassion as I start the day and of course more laughter, always more joy and laughter. With love. ❤️🧿
.
.
.
#2025 #newday #morningfog #vancouver #visualpoetry
Faith is not a question of the existence or non-existence of God. It is believing that love without reward is valuable.
― Emmanuel Levinas
#love #faith #visualpoetry #niknazk
May the nourishment of the earth be yours,
May the clarity of light be yours,
May the fluency of the ocean be yours,
May the protection of the ancestors be yours.
And so may a slow
Wind work these words
Of love around you,
An invisible cloak
To mind your life.
by John O’Donohue
#newyear #2025 #johnodonohue #blessings
As this year draws to its end,
We give thanks for the gifts it brought
And how they became inlaid within
Where neither time nor tide can touch them.
The days when the veil lifted
And the soul could see delight;
When a quiver caressed the heart
In the sheer exuberance of being here.
We bless this year for all we learned,
For all we loved and lost
And for the quiet way it brought us
Nearer to our invisible destination.
— John O’Donohue
“The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.”
― W.B. Yeats
#eastvan #fog #visualpoetry #vancouver
Thank you for coming out, for the great conversations, and the encouragement. It meant the world to me and I’m deeply grateful that quite a few of my pieces found a new home.
If you didn’t get a chance to visit, worry not. You can pop by during the Mergatroid’s holiday open house on Dec 14, book a studio visit, or check out your favourite artists’ websites.
#eastsideculturecrawl #culturecrawl #vancouverart #vancouverartist
Last day of the #culturecrawl
11am-6pm
You’ll find me and my amazing studio mates at studio 230 at the Mergatroid, 975 Vernon Drive
@lisaochowycz @kristajohnson_art @sorour.art @suzanmarczak_art @tanis_saxby
Come see all the great art from more than 500 artists at the #eastsideculturecrawl
You can find me and my amazing studio mates at the Mergatroid bldg, studio 230. #vancouverartist #culturecrawl #vancouverart
Excited to share paintings from my new series, Imaginary Terrains, with you during this year’s #eastsideculturecrawl
When: November 14-17, 2024.
Thu/Fri: 5pm-10pm.
Sat/Sun: 11am-6pm
Where: The Mergatroid Building, studio 230-975 Vernon Drive
#mergatroidbuilding #vancouverartist #vancouverart #niknazk #visualpoetry
Details from a few of my new paintings. You can see them at the #eastsideculturecrawl
November 14-17, 2024.
Thu/Fri: 5pm-10pm
Sat/Sun: 11am-6pm
You’ll find me at the Red Door Studio #230
#niknazk #vancouverart #paintings #mixedmedia #thingstodovancouver #visualpoetry #culturecrawl
Reckoning is a piece I finished earlier in the year and yet it perfectly encapsulates how I’ve been feeling over past few days. You can see it at the #culturecrawl
I feel it pairs well with Yeats’ Second Coming:
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
#niknazk #eastsideculturecrawl #crawl2024 #vancouverartists #mixedmediapainting #visualpoetry #postelectionblues
A detail of Inner Topography, a mixed media piece that is part of my new series, Imaginary Terrains. Can’t wait to share the full series with you at this year’s #eastvanculturecrawl: November 14-17, 2024. Thu/Fri: 5pm-10pm. Sat/Sun: 11am-6pm - you can find me at The Red Door Studio. #crawl2024 #crawlcountdown #culturecrawl #eastvancouverculturecrawl #niknazk #vancouverartists #vancouverart
It was beautiful. #fall #smalljoys #visualpoetry #niknazk
Wherever I am, the world comes after me.
It offers me its busyness. It does not believe
that I do not want it. Now I understand
why the old poets of China went so far and high
into the mountains, then crept into the pale mist. - #maryoliver
.
.
.
#mist #fog #vancouver #visualpoetry
Still a few months left to the #eastsideculturecrawl but I’m already excited to opening up my studio to you. Lots of new paintings in the works. This one is a panel of a diptych.
.
.
.
O wounded body
wounded soul
admit you’ve been happy
Just between us
admit it
- Excerpt from Life by Abdellatif Laâbi
translated by André Naffis-Sahely
.
.
.
#painting #vancouverart #artcollector #acrylicpainting #mixedmedia #niknaz #visualpoetry
Only love is big enough to hold all the pain of this world. #sharonsalzberg
#visualpoetry #sunshinecoast
To see more photographs, visit my instagram account.
