THE GIRL WITH THE ETHEREUM EARRINGS | 15in. X 15in. | Archival Pigment Print on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag Pure Cotton Baryta | Collage - Limited Edition of 10

WILLEY, Francis

(Canada)

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A self-taught interdisciplinary artist, Willey is a traditional film photographer, piano composer, songwriter and poet. They are inspired by nature, dreams, and empathetic communications with a wide variety of people. At the age of 12, they received a KODAK camera from their mother June, and the first frame it captured was a portrait of her.

Willey believes that a more compassionate culture can be created through the arts. A desire to enrich their own knowledge and experience prompted extended travels to the regions of the Himalayas and through south-east Asia, with sojourns in monasteries and the homes of local families. These were formative times for the artist, and are reflected in the greater complexity and diversity of images in works created during the 1990s.

In February 2011 they lost a tremendous amount to a tragic house fire that destroyed his home and their art, and most of the photographic negatives. The flames took 35mm film cameras, darkroom, drawings, and their worldly possessions. Some of the images in the following galleries are what remain.

Francis A. Willey acknowledges that they live, work and play on the traditional territories of the people of the Treaty 7 region in southern Alberta, which includes the Niitsitapi/Blackfoot Confederacy: the Siksika, Piikani, and Kainai First Nation, the Tsuut'ina First Nation, and the Iyarhe/Stoney Nakoda: the Chiniki, Bearspaw, and Wesley First Nations. The City of Calgary is also home to the Metis Nation of Alberta, Region III.

Francis Willey is proud of their maternal Cree ancestors, and respects the history, languages, and cultures of the First Nations, Metis and Inuit peoples of Canada, and their continuing creative presence in our country.