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Arts·In Process

In a tiny studio, this artist prints portals to another world

Go inside the workspace of Khadijah Morley as the Toronto-based printmaker completes a new artwork inspired by the stories of Afro-Caribbean spirituality she grew up with.

Watch Khadijah Morley make a new artwork inspired by the stories of Afro-Caribbean spirituality

CBC Arts ·
In a small studio workspace with walls covered in test prints, reference images and tubes of ink, a woman with dark hair sits at her desk with her back to the camera.
CBC Arts video series In Process visits Toronto-based printmaker Khadijah Morley in her home studio as she completes a new print for a solo exhibition. (CBC Arts)

Artist Khadijah Morley grew up with magic. 

The Toronto-based printmaker's dreamlike images of animals, silhouetted figures and portals to other worlds are inspired by the folk tales and stories of Afro-Caribbean spirituality told by her family. 

In the first episode of In Process, a new video series from CBC Arts, we visit Morley in her home studio as she completes a print for a solo exhibition at The Bows art gallery in Calgary. The exhibition, titled We've Met Before, is on view now through April 26. 

In Process takes the audience into the artist's workspace to see what some of Canada's most exciting talents are busy making. Each episode visits a different art maker as they work toward the completion of a new project. The series captures creativity in action, as the artwork — as well as the ideas that inform it — take shape in front of the camera.

Watch the full episode below:

With carving tools, printing blocks, inks and her press, Morley evokes the feelings and "atmospheres" of those formative stories she grew up with.

The work has led her to question why some aspects of Afro-Caribbean spiritual practice, such as Obeah, have been maligned as "witchcraft," "superstition" or outright evil. 

"I think that I have to reassess as to why it's considered that way," she says. "It's very powerful. It's a form of embodied knowledge that I wish I knew more about.… I feel like I'm in the beginning stages of trying to understand where a lot of how I see the world comes from."

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