ARTIST BIOGRAPHY

Neeko Paluzzi (he/him) is an artist based in the Outaouais region of Quebec. He holds a Masters of Fine Arts (2022) from the University of Ottawa and is a graduate of School of the Photographic Arts: Ottawa (2017). He was the recipient of the Karsh Continuum Photography Award from the City of Ottawa in 2021, had a feature exhibition at the Scotiabank CONTACT Festival in 2019, and was the winner of the 2018 Project X, Photography Grant from the Ottawa Arts Council. In addition, he has participated in artist residencies at the Banff Centre for the Arts (2024), at DAIMON Centre (2023), and at l’Ecart (2022). Paluzzi teaches English at the Official Languages and Bilingualism Institute.

Email: neeko (at) paluzzi.ca

ARTIST STATEMENT

I am a lens-based artist and language educator who uses translation theories to create intertextual installations. From music to literature, I am interested in translating texts—both visual and non-visual—into my own photographic language, with my queer body at the center of these visual translations.

I am drawn to texts that have various linguistic translations and adaptations into other media. Following the translation doctrine of Jorge Luis Borges, I am not bound to the original source, but instead focus on the various incarnations and modifications that have occurred over time. This non-hierarchical, anti-colonial approach views each version of a text as equally important. For Borges, a pure translation does not exist; each version reflects the translator who created it.

This method challenges the traditional position of the translator and allows me to explore my subjectivity and performativity as the creator of my own works. To embed my body into my installations, I use digital technologies such as 3D scanning/printing and deep-fake algorithms, which create digital doubles of myself that personify contemporary queerness and identity. Although I use 21st-century technology, my art practice is grounded in darkroom chemistry and scholarly research, allowing me to engage with the history of lens-based art alongside other artists and academics.

LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I acknowledge that I live and work on the unceded, unsurrendered Territory of the Anishinaabe Algonquin Nation whose presence here reaches back to time immemorial. I acknowledge the historical oppression of lands, cultures, languages, and the original Peoples in what we now know as “Canada.” I acknowledge the findings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada and that decolonization is the first step in healing settler trauma.

And, most importantly, I acknowledge the Indigenous peoples of Turtle Island are here, have been here, and will always be here. #landback