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.
Lauren Fournier
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