Today we’d like to introduce you to Ysabel LeMay.
Hi Ysabel, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
Born in Quebec, Canada, I discovered my fascination for the natural world at my family’s cottage in the northern wilderness of the province. But it was the jungle of the advertising world where I honed my visual expression. After 15 years in the industry, I sought a more rewarding path for my creativity, refocusing initially on painting and then photography. From there, I developed my distinctive technique, called hyper-collage. My practice, refined over a decade, sees me traveling the globe on photographic expeditions, accumulating vast reserves of natural imagery. I studiously review these, extracting elements according to my intuition and assembling them into baroque tableaux, venerating nature’s undeniable majesty and generosity.
Inspired by my world travels and work with shamans, my latest series launched in 2022. While my technique is high-tech, my hyper-college process is instinctual and organic, allowing each piece to dictate its destiny. From a simple starting point — an image, a color, an emotion — I follow a meticulous process. After isolating and extracting my photos’ elements, I weave them into intricate compositions of splendid beauty.
My recent pictorial exploration has adopted a more abstract vocabulary. Influenced by the knowledge from connecting with spirit and expressing my reconnection with the earth, I brought my hyper-collages to a place where they now serve as records of natural splendor perpetually in motion.
Let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what challenges have you had to overcome?
I would say that navigating the water of a harsh and heavily elitist world of fine arts without formal training in the business was a steep learning curve. I am very grateful for my prior 15 years of experience as an art director in advertising, which taught me to have a thick skin towards demanding projects and clients. Trusting myself creatively and thinking outside the box got me to where I am now.
I appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’ve been asked many times why I do what I do. The answer changes just a little bit each time I’m asked because my path is one of constant discovery. I am discovering new techniques and applications for my art, as well as truths about myself and who I am. It’s a path that leads me, again and again, to immerse myself in the beauty and intelligence of nature. I’ve felt a deep attachment to nature since childhood. I grew up in the suburbs, where authentic beauty and inspiration were rare. Only when my family and I spent time far from there, in the wilderness, I felt free. I felt my creativity awaken almost instantly. I could wander and discover the living world to gain knowledge and wisdom that I consider worthy of expression. To this day, it’s a place I have to go to as often as possible, or I will feel lost.
My work lives in galleries, museums, and cultural spaces worldwide. But where my work is born is in the wild, far from the trappings of human civilization. I have to bear witness to nature’s vast diversity and endless variations. I must immerse myself in its elegant logic and subtle but undeniable fabric of interconnection. I follow my intuition and gather fragments of what I find there, following no plan or preconceptions.
Once I return to my studio, the next stage of my artwork’s life begins. What I have gathered with my camera, which seemed so random, slowly reveals its purpose. And there is always a purpose. The tools I use at this stage are somewhat artificial, inorganic, and created by the digital, virtual world. The truths they reveal, though, are those of the natural, organic world that made us.
As with any parent and child, learning comes through conversations, through questions, and finding answers. My works welcome viewers to participate in these conversations. If we’re willing to listen, nature can guide us to our paths and purposes and the peace inside ourselves, which is the most accurate freedom. This is what I need to find, celebrate, and share.
What does success mean to you?
Success lies in the infinite curiosity and enthusiasm to pursue my art.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.ysabellemay.com
- Instagram: lemay.ysabel
- Facebook: Ysabel LeMay
- Twitter: lemayartista
- Youtube: @ysabellemay1184
Image Credits
image 1: COSMIC HIVE, image 2: PINEALIA, image 3: SAMSARA, image 4: THE CATHEDRAL, image 5: EDEN III, image 6: LIFE II, image 7: ORACULAR, image 8: VOLTIGE
