SHIRA GOLD
If Memory Was a Layer

The composite series of trees-scape portraits convey ideas about growth, and the quest for personal identity. With age and experience, shedding parts of ourselves that no longer reflect who we are.
Inspired by Elisabeth Margaret Hopkins who wrote her first children’s book, The Painted Cougar at 83 years old. The story is of a cougar who seeks external beauty and attention. He meets various characters on his quest, including a snake who paints his coat in illustrations. The cougar now believes he has found beauty and returns to his kingdom, where he is admired and weds the lioness he had coveted. After the wedding, she confides she has always loved him just as he was and licks away his painted coat.
My series recalls the cougar’s realization about his own self-worth and Hopkins’s late emergence an author. Their experiences – animal and artist remind us of the struggles to be freed from expectations and that no matter our circumstances, we hold the power and potential to transform.

Author
Photography has always been the antidote for Shira Gold’s unquiet mind - a visual expression of subjects that defied verbal articulation and a lens in which she can see the world through new eyes. Shira utilizes still life and landscape as metaphors for themes common to us all and often left unspoken… grief, identity and change. Stillness, negative space and minimalism are consistent characters that have become hallmarks in Shira’s work, providing visual respite and a means to focus on intention and simplicity.

Shira’s work has garnered her recognition through various international awards, in noted photography publications, and in exhibitions through North America and Europe. She currently lives and works in Vancouver, Canada.

Website
shiragold.com

BACK TO GALLERY