Leesa Streifler: She is Present

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Leesa Streifler, “She Once Was (detail),” 2024

mixed media on polypropelene (photo: courtesy of the Artist)

As one of Canada's preeminent feminist artists, Leesa Streifler's 40-year career has focused on experiences and representations of women, with her own lived experience at the core of her practice. In this series of mixed media drawings, she explores the aesthetics of women’s aging within a culture consumed with youthful beauty and agility. Through these powerfully drawn, expressive works Streifler fosters critical dialogue on bodily changes, ability, agency, sexuality, relationships, and memory to recognize strength and beauty at all ages and abilities. This exhibition is dedicated to Streifler’s mother, Sheila, who passed away in 2020.

Leesa Streifler received a BFA at the University of Manitoba and an MFA from Hunter College in New York. She taught in the Department of Visual Arts at the University of Regina for over 30 years, influencing generations of art students. She has exhibited widely in Canada and internationally. She is passionate about feminism and art education, actively mentoring other artists through MAWA (Mentoring Artists for Women’s Art) in Winnipeg, MB. Streifler lives and works on Treaty One territory, on the original lands of the Anishanaabeg, Oji-Cree, Dakota, and Dene Nations, and on the National Homeland of the Red River Métis.