Light Blue Chinook Salmon, 2024

Folded paper on wood panel. This piece is composed of origami salmon, a design of my own. I was searching for 4 years for an origami salmon model I could use because of the beautiful story of its journey home to spawn. I’m the end, I had to lear...

Folded paper on wood panel. This piece is composed of origami salmon, a design of my own. I was searching for 4 years for an origami salmon model I could use because of the beautiful story of its journey home to spawn. I’m the end, I had to learn how to design a model starting with the crease pattern itself. I identify with the Chinook salmon because it is a species transplanted from the North Pacific but now thrives in our Great Lakes alongside native species The vibrant Chiyogami paper is hand silk-screened in Japan, and is pH neutralized by myself sheet by sheet. I use pH neutral glue and adhere to artist grade wood panels painted with a durable, acrylic paint. This piece is part of my migration series of origami assemblage. My artist statement: Andrew unearths great journeys through origami assemblage, influenced by his experience as a second generation Canadian. “We are keenly aware of our ‘otherness’, wondering if we truly belong. I fold hundreds of origami birds to honour hardships and sacrifices made by my parents’ generation. As I lay each bird in its place, I realize that the journey continues – I am still finding my way, to be accepted, by others, by myself.” The process is a cathartic, meditative practice. Always striving for perfection, taking joy in the completion of each small task, the culmination of thousands of motions to create something greater than the sum of its parts.