THEY/THEM
Louie Fermor is an artist and writer of English-Scottish descent residing in Moh'kins'tsis (Calgary), on Treaty 7 Territory. They have provided artwork and writing for venues and publications in Moh'kins'tsis, Tkaronto, and New York.
In 2018 they were a resident with the New York University Summer Studio Program and was a finalist for the 20th Annual RBC Painting Competition. In 2019 they participated in the Calgary Allied Arts Foundation Residency at cSPACE King Edward and the inaugural Momus Emerging Critics Residency, in Montreal. Also In 2019 they were announced as one of the runners-up for the Canadian Art Writing Prize. And in 2021 they were the recipient of the Alberta Foundation for the Art's VANM Individual Project Grant and two Research and Creation grants from Canada Council for the Arts.
At the beginning of summer 2019 Fermor launched an online art publication,
Studio, for which they were the publisher and writer. Since the beginning of 2020, they have been dedicating themselves to fulltime studio work, and writing their first fiction book.
Louie is a little old fashioned; a painter who holes away in their studio, hoarding paint tubes, plucking through old books, and rarely doing much else. Much of their work describes time spent alone -- either in solitude or alienation, whether that be by choice or marginalization. Through themes of archetype, history, liberation, queerness, and disability, Fermor explores portraiture and storytelling, including both the stories we've committed to the pages of history, and the stories we tell ourselves.
Fermor would like to thank the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, Elephant Artist Relief Society, and Canada Council for the Arts for supporting their work.