Richard Heikkilä-Sawan | 2015 BMO 1st Art! Invitational Student Art Competition Regional Winner
Alumnus Richard Heikkilä-Sawan (’15) is the British Columbia Regional Winner for the 2015 BMO 1st Art! Invitational Student Art Competition.
Richard’s piece, Freedom Flag, consists of a large buffalo hide dyed in the six colours of the rainbow. The strips of hide have been placed on a wooden stretcher intended to be mounted on a gallery wall. Freedom Flag will be exhibited at the Justina M. Barnicke Gallery in Toronto from October 22 – December 19, 2015.
Heikkilä-Sawan works with painting and sculpture. His work explores First Nations culture and identity from a personal lens. As a biracial artist not brought up within his birth culture, Heikkila-Sawan offers a unique perspective within a larger narrative.