‘We all experience it in our life’: N.S. artist’s latest collection inspired by grief

Artist Chanelle Jefferson started the Grief Project to help people cope with loss.

Art can be a window to the soul so one Nova Scotia artist is using her work to explore and present pieces inspired by grief.

Chanelle Jefferson lives in Lunenburg, N.S. She said she creates art that combines nature and healing. Her exploration of grief began in a garden.

“I had the experience of sitting in a garden of my friend’s sister who had recently passed,” Jefferson said. “I got to sit with all of the nature that she had tended to and cared for.”

Jefferson said she painted what the deceased had grown as a way for her brother to remember her.

The project started with a call on social media. Jefferson asked for six people to share their grief so she could paint their stories.

“I’m not drawing a figurative representation of what they share with me necessarily but finding a way to abstractly bring it together to create a painting.”

Among the subjects were apple trees, beaches and cabins – all filled with memories of loved ones.

“Every experience of grief is different, but we all experience it in our life.”

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