SANDRA SMIRLE

Sculpture

Opening on Saturday, June 7 at 2 p.m.

By incorporating recycled and discarded materials into my practice, I seek to highlight the cultural, social, and environmental consequences of consumerism, overconsumption, and labour that these unsustainable habits can have on our planet. My work often relies on repetitive and sustained labour which, while meditative, is also a means of materializing ideas through implementation rather than through abstraction. I am engaged by such experimentation and how it pushes my work in new directions, towards new possibilities.

Ultimately, I am interested in creating works that act as a cautionary beacon – warning us of the fragility of ecosystems and our responsibility to exercise stewardship and balance.

 

Sandra Smirle is a multidisciplinary Canadian artist based in Tiohtià:ke/Montreal, Canada, who explores the delicate relationship between humans and nature. Using conservation as a lens, she examines the environmental and societal impacts of consumerism and overconsumption. Her installations often incorporate recycled materials, such as ghost rope, transforming discarded objects into anthropomorphized sculptures that spark dialogue about sustainability, labour, and climate change. Smirle’s adaptable works emphasize the link between environmental degradation and human well-being, urging viewers to reconsider their relationship with the planet’s resources.

Sandra holds an MFA in Fibres and Material Practice from Concordia University in Montreal, Canada (2015). Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and is held in private and corporate collections across Canada, Australia, and Europe. Smirle has been featured in The Map as Art: Contemporary Artists Explore Cartography, published by Princeton Architectural Press. Additionally, her work was included in Deviant Devices, a series by The Site Magazine in 2020, and in the documentary The City Island by filmmaker Elizabeth Littlejohn in 2022. Most recently, she created a site-specific work for Ad Mare, Centre d’artistes en art actuel, located in the Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Quebec.