Solace: Healing Through Art
Solace: Healing Through Art
Exhibition from members of the UBC Okanagan Black Student Association in the FINA Gallery, CCS Building.
February 10 to 20, 2025
Artists Names and Blurbs
Jordan Hermanus
Given that weather is often linked to emotions I wanted to capture the way seasonal
depression can feel like it is creeping up on you as one tries to run away from its grip. In
collaboration with generative Ai and photoshop these images that I took are composed to
represent the headspace of what it means to grow through what we go through.
DAVID KOLAWOLE ADERIBIGBE
HER BUBBLE OF LOVE?
This piece depicts a man trapped in a bubble by the woman he believes he loves. It
symbolizes the toxic dynamics in relationships created when unrealistic expectations and
desires are placed on a partner—expectations that neither can fully embody nor fulfill. The
bubble symbolizes a sense of entrapment, as if doomed to remain in an unhealthy cycle of
unearned commitment. However, the irony is, “it’s just a bubble.” Although the bubble offers
no true barrier, their inability to break free from their perceptions and the emotions they have
about love and their partner confines them, making their entrapment almost voluntary.
Ultimately, it showcases the negative consequences of distorted ideals and unhealthy
attachments, where escape is possible, but the choice is made to remain.
DAVID KOLAWOLE ADERIBIGBE
SMILE ARMY
It depicts the concept of emotional coercion. Fostering a toxic culture of suppressing natural
struggles, stripping the authentic nature of joy. It inevitably creates a sense of isolation or
emotional burnout, as people are expected to hide their true feelings to avoid the social
consequences.
Zee Evans
My piece is really about some very prominent black men and women that played important
roles in the civil rights movement in the United States. It’s kinda of like how kids look to their
role models, that is how I look to these people. Their actions and their words are the reason I
am who I am today and they make me very proud say I’m black and I’m meant to be here
and that I’m important no matter what anyone says or thinks.
Kikiope AkinladeKiki Mobolaji is a fine art photographer based in Kelowna, specializing in film photography
that captures raw, fleeting moments between reality and perception. Originally from Calgary,
Kiki draws inspiration from his environment, blending his background in philosophy with
influences from photographers like Saul Leiter and Olga Karlovac. Shooting on film allows
him to slow down and engage deeply with each frame, embracing texture, imperfection, and
emotion.
See more at www.kikimobolaji.com or Instagram @kikishot_
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