Lauren Fournier is a contemporary artist and writer who works across media. Born and raised in Saskatchewan, she holds a BA in Interdisciplinary Fine Arts from the University of Regina and a Masters in English from Simon Fraser University in Vancouver. She is currently a PhD candidate at York University, where she focuses on contemporary feminist theory and art across media. In addition to her art practice and academic research, Lauren has worked as a gallery facilitator, zine producer, community mental health advocate, and harm reduction worker. Her art practice explores themes integral to the history of feminism: hysteria, witches, sexuality, and the female-identifying body in public space. Her performances on video often take a phrase that is wrapped up in feminist ambivalence — Is it bad to be a witch? or, You’re hysterical — and repeats it, causing its meaning and possible readings to shift over time. An artist who was raised in an Evangelical Christian household and now identifies as a sex-positive feminist artist with ongoing mental health struggles, Fournier’s practice is grounded in her lived experience. She strives toward an art practice that is intersectional, anti-racist, and trans-inclusive in its feminism, acknowledging the privileges that her whiteness affords her particularly in light of feminism’s histories. As a scholar, Lauren Fournier specializes in gender and sexuality studies, performance studies, contemporary literature, and critical theory. Her work has exhibited in galleries, artist-run centres, and alternative spaces in Canada, Texas, and Berlin. Her writing has been published in KAPSULA, Magenta, Canadian Art, Canadian Journal of Woman Studies, and West Coast Line.
