Mantis Mei

Calgary

Mantis is afraid of bugs! Though Mantis’ work is highly personal, they choose to detach into metaphorical, non-human/uncanny territory. As an autistic person, it is hard to feel like a person sometimes. Mantis’ experience, as it brews internally, is never human. It is anything but. All works Mantis has created she has grown to hate; not because it is lacking, but because it represents an attempted recollection of emotions instead of the emotions themselves. They play with this ingenuinity and what that means for their practice. Mantis has moved from creating singular, permanent works to doing ongoing series that develop as she does. As much as possible, the audience is encouraged to metaphorize with the artist. Mantis recreates that experience outside of my body; even if the content is not applicable to the audience’s lives, she strives for them to feel the raw emotions. They do not have to re- contextualize it to their personal experience, they just have to sit in it.

Their practice exists in multiple forms: digital or physical, hard or soft, 2D or 3D. To be specific, Mantis works with textile, electronics, clay, digital art, painting, airbrushing, and video. Still afraid of bugs, though.