Devin West is a trans-genderfluid, queer settler from the village of Mistatim, nestled in the Boreal forest of northeastern Saskatchewan. In their inter-media art practice, West works with structures of suspension, tension, and disruption. When intertwined with a queer theoretical underpinning, these mixed media sculptures challenge binary notions of femininity and masculinity. Most viewers are struck by the use of bones and other raw materials found on farmed lands. While these rural signifiers are more easily read, West interrupts heteronormative ideas of agriculture, monogamy, and masculinity.

West’s artistic practice is accompanied by an ongoing journey as a first-generation academic. Research and lived experience reveal themselves in their title choices such as “Queer Portraits of Grief” and “Bleed for the Binary.” Exhibiting within the university is another way West conducts artistic interventions that disrupt and engage public dialogue about genderfluid identity, visibility, history and resilience. Queer cultural grief has become a touchstone of their recent output. This puts narratives of queer death, both social and literal, at the forefront of the local art scene in Kingston, ON. West currently resides on the adjacent Wolfe Island where Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence part ways.

West has exhibited their works across Canada in galleries such as Union Gallery, AKA Artist-Run-Centre, Potpourri Gallery, and Modern Fuel Artist-Run Centre. They have also created digital works that exist online and are available on Youtube. For video, West has two primary collaborators: Kitz Willman of their musical duo The Westkitz Watershed and fin west under the name jam the spokes. These multimedia projects operate to mourn queer ancestors, speak across generations, and invoke queer cultural memory. West’s work uses creative methodologies to bring to life the Boreal setting that delivered many early teachings in what they call “trapline feminism.” These personal histories meld between carpentry and social work, college hockey and doctoral pursuits, making West one of the most vibrant queer voices creating art in so-called Canada today.