Ava P Christl was born on Vancouver Island, on Canada’s west coast, grew up in the rainforests of northwestern BC, and has since lived for more than 25 years in Canada’s far north, in the Boreal forests of the Northwest Territories and Yukon. Ava holds a BFA (painting) from NSCAD University in Halifax and a Certificate in Adult Education from the University of Victoria.
Ava’s work lies at the intersection of art and ecology, nature and spirit. She makes paintings about the land; nature and place; nature as healer; the vast wilderness; and about our human relationship to the living land. Her work addresses landscape and memory; grief, loss and recovery; longing and belonging; relationship to place; and the cycles of life, growth and death.
Ava’s current work is on the subject of Boreal forests. Her drawings and paintings include the trees, flowers, wetlands, the forest floor and understory, as well as the surrounding and supporting terrain with an understanding of the importance of these circumpolar northern forests in terms of their habitat for millions of animals, birds and insects, the promotion of diversity such as grasslands, forests, creeks and rivers, swamps and wetlands, and home to plants and vegetation such as mosses and lichen
Christ’s work encompasses ideas about habitat loss due to forest fires as well as resource exploration and exploitation; renewal and regeneration in the Boreal Forest; and our human relationship to the living forests. She looks at forest habitat, ecology, climate change and its impacts, and at the social, spiritual and cultural aspects of forests. Through her work, Ava strives to evoke a sense of place and belonging – of connectedness to the land – and understands that the land belongs to all of us – human and other-than-human – and that we have a responsibility to one another.
Christl believes that our current climate crisis (as well as other conflicts) arise from a lack of reciprocity towards the land. She suggests that we take the land – the forests, rivers and air – for granted to be used (and abused) for commodification and financial gain and fail to see our emotional and spiritual connections to the land. Through her work, Ava wants to share the beauty of the land and to show the lands ability to renew itself and to point to the need for human intervention in regenerating degraded or destroyed landscapes. In order to protect lands, we need to know them and to love them. Christl aims to show the wonder of Boreal Forests – their beauty and their diversity, and to share in awe her spiritual homeland.