Printmaking, Textiles, Soft Sculpture

Residency Dates: September 2026

Studio H Canada is pleased to welcome Fairah Bensen, an emerging visual artist based on Quadra Island, British Columbia, Canada. Fairah works across printmaking, textiles and soft sculpture. They explore gender, sexuality, the body and selfhood through symbolism, archetypal characters, dreams and the natural environment. Their practice combines silkscreen and linoleum block printing with quilting, beadwork and embroidery. In doing so, Fairah connects contemporary explorations of identity with textile knowledge carried through generations of their family.

Artist Statement

I am an interdisciplinary artist specializing in fabric-based sculptures that utilize silkscreen and linoleum block printing, beadwork, and embroidery. My practice is informed by ideas surrounding the feminine experience, the body, and gender identity.

My current body of work investigates personal experiences within gender, sexuality, and puberty, using symbolism and archetypal characters. My upbringing on Quadra Island and the surrounding Gulf Islands of Vancouver Island also informs the work. I draw inspiration from plants and animals native to this area that hold significance in my family lineage, including ravens, deer, Roosevelt elk, and grey wolves. Douglas fir and other coniferous trees from Quadra Island’s old-growth forests also shape the dense forest imagery in works such as Dreamwalker (2026).

Old-growth trees have a powerful symbolic presence within my dreams. They are resilient but not indestructible, and easily blend into the vast expanse of Quadra’s woodlands. But if you look closer, there is majesty and mystical power to behold. I record these dreams shortly after waking and return to them often in my practice. I investigate the symbolism behind the trees, plants, and animals that appear. Over time, I have come to realize how strongly my dreams reflect my lived experiences of being constricted by a gendered, binary body. Through this process, I aim to display the subconscious and create a visual universe of my own psyche. I explore ideas of expression and selfhood.

The animals in my work are often anthropomorphic. They embody the feeling of being stuck in the transition from girlhood to womanhood and serve as an alternative representation of my body. Bodies are strange, imperfect, and constantly shifting. Yet mass media often depicts them as binary, clean, and uncomplicated. Transformation, fluidity, and “abnormality” are often obscured or sensationalized. I address my body as multifaceted and fluid, outside rigid Western body standards, Eurocentric art traditions, and the gender I was assigned at birth. My work aims to deconstruct traditional gender roles and create something more unusual and more free. I invite my audience to feel, slow down, and take time to look closely.

My research is paired with traditional quilting, beadwork, and embroidery techniques. Through these techniques, I bring craft into a fine arts space by reappropriating a traditionally feminine practice. Within fine arts, craft has often been considered women’s work and undervalued as decorative. My mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother were all tailors or quilters. This knowledge has passed from mother to daughter through generations, outside the gatekeeping structures of art academies. I use materials associated with quilting and dressmaking, such as ribbon, lace, and beads. In this way, I pursue new possibilities for bringing craft into the male-dominated sphere of fine arts.

About the Artist

Fairah Bensen is a visual artist whose interdisciplinary practice combines printmaking, textiles and soft sculpture. Their work explores personal experiences of gender, sexuality and puberty through symbolism and archetypal characters.

Their work has appeared in group exhibitions at Emily Carr University of Art + Design, including The Show (2026) and New Lithographs/Dialogues with the Library Collection (2024). They also exhibited in Contact: A Contemporary Print Show (2026) at Dundarave. In addition, Fairah co-curated ART Justice x Emily Carr (2026), developed with incarcerated artists from Mission Medium and Pacific Institutions.

Fairah received their BFA from Emily Carr University of Art + Design in 2026. They live and work on Quadra Island, on the unceded territories of the We Wai Kum Nation.

You can learn more about Fairah on their website: https://fairahbensen.com and follow them on Instagram: @fairah.jpeg

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Artists of all media and disciplines are welcome to apply to Studio H Canada International Art Residency – please check out the link here to apply.

Check out previous posts about artists here.