This piece is a quiet play on words, berries and soul, or perhaps sole, referring to the soft, feminine shoes resting near a scattering of berries. The objects are simple, but each carries a deeper personal meaning, rooted in memory.
The wine in the piece immediately brings me back to my grandparents’ bungalow in Ear Falls, where we visited every summer. They handcrafted their own wine and kept it in a cellar in their garage. Their home was full of small, rich details, pots and pans lining the kitchen, fruits from my grandma’s blooming garden decorating the countertops. It felt like a world of its own. The shoes were inspired by a specific memory. One Christmas, my grandparents gave me a Disney Princess Polly Pocket doll who wore tiny shoes just like these. I brought her to their house and at some point, I lost the shoes. I never found them, but they stayed in my mind. Including them in this piece felt like a soft, nostalgic tribute to a small but sweet loss from childhood.
I chose charcoal for this work because of the way it captures memory. The medium’s soft shadows and velvety texture give the whole piece a dreamy, slightly faded feeling—like a photograph remembered more than seen. It was the perfect way to reflect the sense of longing, humour, and love I feel when I think of those summers and the people who shaped them.