Grace Papineau-Couture

they/them

My work in new media, print and textile uses humor and atypical representations of emotions to explore feelings of alienation, inadequacy and more recently, loss. Humor is an important tool in my work – it disarms the viewer by first making them comfortable enough to laugh while also opening doors to ask questions – is this funny because it’s relatable, is it funny because it hurts? Though these pictures in this catalog don’t communicate the humor that is so central to my work, I assure you that you would probably find at least some of it funny if you saw it in person. 

Exploring how we feel and relate in tandem with the digital world also informs my practice. How do we waste time on the internet? How has it changed how we grieve and process emotions? Using absurd representations and visualizations of hard to digest emotions, I use my experience with neurodivergence and learning disabilities to lend viewers another path to understanding. There’s something that exists beyond the binaries that we’re subjected to everyday – in experiences, emotions, relationships. I want to figure out what that is and I want to laugh while doing it.

instagram @sadpartyclown