Meet Antigonish visual artist Antoinette
OFF the WALL
KARUNA
BY SHELLEY CAMERON-MCCARRON PHOTO BY STEVE SMITH, VISIONFIRE STUDIOS
A
s a visual artist, Antoinette Karuna, a veteran and award-winning filmmaker, and freelance writer, has always been a storyteller. Now, she’s found a new passion for expression in an old tradition—in rug hooking. The Antigonish, NS woman who has spent parts of her life living in London, England, Montreal, and Berlin, recently turned to fibre arts, finding inspiration, success, and creative communication in a series of autobiographical hooked rug wall hangings. “I’ve only done three works, but they’ve taken me quite far,” says Karuna who, along with her art, works as a freelance writer, editor, and translator in her business Karuna Communications, and teaches filmmaking in St. Francis Xavier University’s Art Department. The richly-detailed hooked rugs, a time-consuming process done by hand, are made from recycled fabrics and Atlantic Canadian yarns and feature both punch needle (a flat punch of the yarn down) and traditional rug hooking techniques, a unique combination one doesn’t see often. One rug she describes as a self-portrait, evoking the story of her biracial identity, Sri Lankan Tamil on her dad’s side, and French Canadian through her mom. The two others explore the spiritual aspects of erotic love. The three pieces were an integral part of her successful application to Memorial University’s Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in the visual arts program, which she starts in May 2022. She’ll remain based in Antigonish, completing an in-person summer residency, and fall and winter terms online.
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ah! Winter 2021–22
At Home on the North Shore
