Where Light Becomes Spirit

Where Light Becomes Spirit is inspired by the Squamish Nation Welcome Figure at Ambleside Park in West Vancouver. The figure, a traditional totemic form, stands facing the open water and the setting sun, as if in quiet dialogue with the horizon—reimagined here not as a fixed object, but as a presence immersed in light.

The painting is built through layered colour, directional brushwork, and thick impasto. Radiating strokes extend outward from the centre, dissolving the boundary between sky, water, and form. The carved figure is rendered with heavier, more grounded marks, while the surrounding light is expressed through fluid, sweeping gestures. Texture becomes an active element, allowing light to emerge physically from the painted surface.

Rather than depicting the totem with literal precision, the work approaches it as a symbol of life and spiritual presence. Colour, gesture, and material come together to evoke a sense of transformation—where light is not only seen, but felt. In this moment, the figure becomes a conduit between the physical and the intangible, where light itself seems to take on a living, spiritual form.