About

Valerie Durant (BFA, MA), a Canadian interdisciplinary visual artist based in Vancouver, B.C., was born, lives and works on the unceded territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.

Her conceptual practice melds photography with sculptural materials, sound, video, and installation. She treats space as active material. Her interconnected photographic works weave architectural and spatial relationships with material, body, and space. Her work is rooted in contemplative nature walks, where Durant engages in a sensorial dialogue between the natural world and fundamental human experiences—such as life, death, and consciousness.

Durant uses alternative photographic processes, sculptural experimentation, and spatial installation to engage with our interdependent and regenerative world. She has worked broadly on topics of social and climate equity and sustainability, exploring concepts of regeneration and continuum. Her practice involves the observation of lifecycles in nature, often using ice, natural materials, recycled paper, and other materials with minimal impact on the ecosystem.

Linking past and future with the present, Durant explores regeneration and continuum while conveying impermanence and ephemerality. These ideas are integrated throughout her practice and her longstanding engagement with social and climate equity and sustainability.

Her work has been exhibited in galleries and art institutions and is held in public and private collections locally and internationally.

Durant’s relationship to architecture and spatial practice began early in her career. After completing the Design Formation Diploma Program at Langara College, she worked in interior architecture and design, creating healthcare environments such as medical and dental offices, where considerations of health, wellbeing, spatial experience, and the needs of those using the space informed her approach.

She received her BFA (2002) from Emily Carr University and attended Cooper Union in NYC. She received an award of distinction for her MA in Planning (2012) from the School of Engineering & Built Environment at the University of Pretoria, South Africa, completing her thesis, Sustainable Urban Agriculture and Forestation: The Edible Connected City, while developing policy to reduce GHG emissions for the UK Government.

In 2020, she received a Canada Council (CC) Digital Originals award for Silence of the Sea.

Solo exhibitions include, Points & Perforations, for which she received a Canada Council (CC) New Media Award. The resulting work explored the social and economic dynamism of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside through sound, architecture, and photography.

In 2021, she received a CC Research and Create Grant, completing Invisible Rivers, initially exhibited at the GPAG. Group exhibitions include Looped, at Artemisia at the Art Institute of Chicago and Well at the Surrey Art Gallery. Well is held in the SAGAL permanent collection. Durant conceptualized and co-curated Out of the Rain: A Project for Homelessness, a collaborative initiative engaging community and arts organizations to create awareness about homelessness in Vancouver.

She has exhibited, led workshops, and participated in events during several Capture Photography Festivals between 2016 and 2025. In 2024, she received a Canada Council award supporting research and creation around mycelial networks. The resulting work, Understory: The Hidden Connection, was exhibited in 2025 at the Sunshine Coast Arts Council Gallery in Sechelt, B.C.

Her current research explores branching systems—mycelium, neural pathways, maps, migration routes & dreams—as a visual & sensory language for memory, belonging, resilience & interdependence. The work will be presented at the Ferry Building Gallery in April 2027 and is titled, Where the Roots Remember: The Dreams Call Us Back.

CONTACT|vdurant@gmail.com

Studio 10 1265 Howe Street

INSTAGRAM|Valeriedurant.art

BLUESKY| @valeriedurant-art.bsky.social

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