DEBORAH KANFER
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Originally from South Africa, Deborah immigrated to Toronto in 1995. She moved back to South Africa in 2000 to complete high school and her studies in Fine Arts, where she earned a first class standing honours degree in 2006.
Deborah moved back to Toronto in 2007, beginning her challenging career pursuit as photographic artist. With various experiences under her belt, after 8 years of living in Toronto, in 2015, Deborah moved to Hamilton, where she now calls ‘home’. Deborah has since steadily established herself as photographic artist – she divides her time between running a studio-gallery in downtown Hamilton and teaching creative classes to all ages at the Art Gallery of Burlington.
Deborah discovered her passion for the photographic medium during her studies at university. She likes to describe it as 'it was love at first click'. While she incorporates mixed media elements into her artworks, her heart is devoted to analogue uses of film and the darkroom. Travel plays a key role in her development as an artist, where she is heavily inspired by the worlds' tapestry of eclectic cultures.
'Through traditional analogue photographic practices, there are no limits. The photographic medium is like a time machine; its the only way for anyone to freeze time. A captured moment in time is preserved forever. When I'm creating, it's as though I'm reinventing a nostalgia; restoring lost moments by recreating them, and then sealing them within in a timeless one-of-a-kind creation. Its like I'm painting with light and revealing a hidden language that would not have necessarily surfaced otherwise. Its not just about capturing that moment, it’s not just art. It’s an alternative state of existence, tapping into a metaphysical entity but never quite reaching a finite resolution. The curiosity is contagious, and the exploration is infinite and all consuming.'