Parveen Dhatt is a self-taught artist from Brampton, Canada—a vibrant, multicultural community on the outskirts of Toronto.
If her story were a film, the opening scene would pan slowly into a garage studio. An energetic, five-foot-tall woman comes into focus, frantically searching for the scissors she was holding only moments ago.
The film then flashes back to the angst of her teenage years. In a high-school gymnasium, she is dancing with a boy who appears to be nearly three feet taller than she is. Strangely, she looks entirely at ease, while he seems merely to be hanging on.
What is the point of this scene, you ask?
This girl has never known how to do anything small. She finds safety in things that are large, bold, and imposing—her artwork included.
In another flashback, a little girl with tightly braided hair walks hand in hand with a man wearing flared trousers, a full beard, and a bright red turban. The pair are rummaging through black garbage bags left at the curb for collection.
As a child of immigrants she instinctively repurposes and reuses those items destined for the recyle bin in her collage portaits. This is where her story begins...