Emerging artist brings the African bush to Westmount

“I want people to see refugees as individual people, not as statistics that can be ignored,” says emerging artist Laura Archer.

This weekend, Archer will finally reveal the paintings that have been tucked away behind the walls of her Westmount studio. Through artwork, she will bring the African bush to Westmount in her debuting show, Facing Africa.

The unforgettable faces depicted on the canvases all stem from photographs taken by Archer in refugee camps where she worked with Médecins Sans Frontières, a humanitarian medical aid agency.

A nurse by profession, Archer provided care for 40,000 refugees split between two adjacent camps in Chad. This required her to strike a balance between managing a team of refugee community health workers and assisting the outpatient clinic with consultations, averaging 1,000 a week. At the time, Archer also spearheaded programs pertaining to sex and gender based violence as well as malnutrition.

In the neighbouring country of Central African Republic, Archer left the refugee camps and ventured further into the bush to find those in need of help in remote villages, many which had already been burnt down. Such initiatives required running daily mobile clinics which “were a great opportunity for basic community health education as well as for gathering data about the political situation,” said Archer.

She returned from Africa nearly one year ago and has been “processing her experience” through art ever since. According to Archer, her art is simple but varied. Some pieces are highly realistic, whereas others blend the modern and developing world through a pixilated representation of the refugees who have crossed her path. In all cases, she challenges the anonymity commonly associated with refugees by dedicating each canvas to one person, allowing them to take center stage.

Archer has lined up her collection of 30 pieces and will be presenting them to the public on Friday, Aug. 15 in a gala affair between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. It will be followed by an open house on Aug. 16 and 17 between the hours of 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. The weekend events will be take place at 3035 St. Antoine St. W., near Atwater.

“Every individual I have painted has a story,” said Archer as she reflected on her art, “a story that deserves to be heard.” From nurse to artist, it is undeniable that Archer practices what she preaches as she gives a voice to the voiceless since she is, above all, a humanitarian.