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Mary Cutchee
Shelter
Material: Ink on cardboard
16 1/2” × 13”
About the Work
This drawing is based on a homeless person’s makeshift shelter that I came across in the woods. The cardboard references the use of discarded boxes for warmth and protection and the shadowy figures allude to the ‘unseen’ aspect of homelessness. As one rough sleeper told me, “We are the invisible people”. I hope it also conveys a sense of the resourcefulness and spirit of survival that enables people to create shelter from whatever materials are at hand.
About the Artist
Mary Cutchee was born in England and received a Bachelors of Art in Fine Art from St. Martin’s School of Art, London. She became a Canadian citizen in 2005. At the heart of her work is an ambiguous relationship between reality and imagination. Through the traditional subjects of figure and landscape, Mary seeks to represent aspects of modern life, and how the physical and intuitive interactions between people — and between people and places — reveal hopes, fears and vulnerablilities.
