About
Gabriela Hirt is a self-taught German-Canadian artist exploring the origins of disconnection — to self, among people, and to nature, which she perceives as the source of human suffering. Born in Munich, Germany, she spent the first half of her creative life working as a journalist and author, before relocating to Victoria, BC, Canada, the traditional territory of the Lekwungen-speaking people.
Sailing the Mediterranean for a year with her partner and two children in 2013/14 sparked Hirt’s passion for visual art. At the heart of her energetic experimental practice are abstract paintings integrating human figures,which she expands through associated sculpture, artistic collaborations, performance, and, most recently, video.
Dark drama and subliminal tension often reverberate in Gabriela’s paintings and sculptures. Reflecting on her ancestors’ roles during the Nazi regime spurred a deeper examination of her own cultural assumptions and responsibilities. More specifically, Gabriela is aiming to understand the legacy of colonialism in her adopted home in Canada by looking closely at the segregating concepts of hierarchy and superiority subconsciously living in herself and in other white bodies. She sees our bodies as “living memorials of pain and resilience,” a theme vividly expressed in her paintings and sculptures.
Notable exhibitions include her solo show Storied Bodies, which appeared at Gibson’s Public Art Gallery in Gibsons, BC, 2023, and at Gage Gallery in Victoria, BC, 2022. Her first solo exhibition, The Indelible Mark — Legacy of a German Upbringing in Victoria, BC, 2021 also underscores Gabriela’s consistent exploration of social issues through art. 2024 brought her to Berlin, Germany, where she presented Erinnerungskörper— The Body as a Memory Keeper, a solo exhibition and dance performance developed during a three-month residency with SomoS Art Space. The interdisciplinary project was fully funded by the Canada Council for the Arts. A related short film, shot in Berlin, is in production. Gabriela holds a Master of Arts in Political Science.
CV
Solo Exhibitions
Erinnerungskörper — The Body as a Memory Keeper, performance, paintings & sculpture, SomoS Art Space, Berlin, March 2024
Storied Bodies, (extended) paintings & sculptures, Gibsons Public Art Gallery, Gibsons, BC, January 2023
Dancers, online-solo show of new paintings, Artwrk.ca, May/June 2023
Storied Bodies, paintings & sculptures, Gage Gallery, Victoria, BC, Sept/Oct 2022
The Indelible Mark, paintings, interactive sculpture & mosaic installation, Gage Gallery, Victoria, BC, March 2021
8 min & 46 sec, solo pop up window-installation addressing discrimination and racism, Gage Gallery, Victoria, BC 2020
Interdisciplinary Projects
Erinnerungskörper, Short film with Tabea Antonacci, Marie Elise Hufnagel, Hameed Al Saeed and Baris Kutlu, in production, Berlin 2024
Erinnerungskörper, contemporary dance performance with paintings based on 3 months research with Marie Elise Hufnagel and Tabea Antonacci, SomoS, Berlin, March 2024
Reise: A Poetic History of German Missionaries and First Nation Australians, poetry reading by Wiradjury poet Alison J. Barton, presenting some of the language-infused paintings we collaborated i and Q&A moderated by Australian curator, Nicole Beck, SomoS, Berlin, Feb. 2024
Private Party, collaborative sculpture with driftwood artist, Tanya Bub, Victoria, BC, 2021
Selected Group Exhibitions
Haze.untitled Vol 001, Q Gallery, May 2024
Liberty & Sovereignty, 13th International Annual Juried Exhibition -- Juror, Jamie Isaac, Chief Curator at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Gallery 110, Seattle, USA, 2023
TD Gallery Paint-In, juried community event with interactive public sculpture installation, Art Gallery Greater Victoria, Victoria, BC, 2023
Immigration, group-show of 9 artists -- Juror, George Harris, artistic Director (artist fee received), Two Rivers Gallery, Prince George, BC, August 4 to October 9, 2023
Inside Out, 3-artists exhibition, Art@Bentall GAllery, Vancouver, BC, 2022
Sooke Fine Arts Show, Sooke, BC, 2022, 2021, 2019
Memorial. Monument. Movement. Artagainstracism.org, NJ, USA, 2021
Refuge, Group Exhibition, Gage Gallery, Victoria, BC, 2021
Summer Small Works Show, Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, 2021
Somewhere in Time, Federation of Canadian Artists, Victoria, BC, 2021
Abstracted, Federationgallery, Vancouver, BC, 2021
Dreamscape, Gage Gallery, Victoria, BC, 2021
CLWAC 123rd Exhibition of Women's Art, The National Arts Club, New York City, 2020
Winter Small Works Show, Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, BC, 2020, 2019
Inside Out, three women artists exhibition, Gage Gallery, Victoria, BC, 2020
Crisis, Federationgallery, Vancouver, BC, 2020
Looking in-Looking Out, Federation of Canadian Artists, Victoria, BC, 2020
Challenge Crisis with Creativity, Gage Gallery, Victoria, BC, 2020
Out of the Silence, Gage Gallery, Victoria, BC, 2020
Summer Show & Sale, Victoria Arts Council, Victoria, BC, 2020
TD Gallery Paint-In, juried community art event, AGGV, Victoria, BC, 2019
Solstice Dreams - The Poetry of Winter, Gage Gallery, Victoria, BC, 2019
All Planet Earth Art Exhibition, Contemporary Art Gallery, Online, 2019
The Oak Bay Studio Tour, Oak Bay, BC, 2019
Sidney Fine Arts Show, Sidney, BC, 2019, 2018
Grants & Residencies
Hub Feenix, artist residency, Finland, October 2024
SomoS Art Space, artist residency, Berlin, January to March, 2024
Canada Council for the Arts -- artist grant for residency at SomoS including travel, collaborative performance and video project with budget for dancers and videographer, 2024
Community & Curatorial Art Projects
The Postcard Climate Project & Show -- Community Visions of Sustainability, international participation of 600 artists, co-organized with another artist, Gage Gallery, Victoria, BC, exhibition February/March 2022
Challenge Crisis with Creativity -- Our Community coping with Covid through Art (idea & lead organiser), project & show, 300 pieces of art/120 participants, Gage Gallery, Victoria, BC, April to June, 2020
Workshops and other Professional Activities
Playful Painting, offering of a painting workshop at Plum Village Monastery, France, 2023
Storied Bodies, art-catalogue with essay by historian and author Rachel Hope Clever, published January 2023
The Necessity of Taking Risks, art workshop, Opus Live Art Series, Victoria, BC, February 2020
Education
MA Political Science from LMU University, Munich, Germany
Early Career
Worked 20 years in journalism for German publications and book projects
Article about artist‘s work at:
