WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE?
What’s Your Favourite?
Internationally renowned Saskatoon-based artist and CAA Member Gabriela Garcia-Luna talks photographing plants, great road trips and the tools of her trade.
By Zoe Whittall
IT’S EASY TO REMEMBER a special moment with a snapshot, but hard to capture the emotion that came with it. Mexico City-born, Saskatchewan-based multimedia artist Gabriela Garcia-Luna takes the impulse to document the beauty of our natural world to new heights, capturing “the DNA of an experience or emotion” through her photo-based, constellation-like collages.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF GABRIELA GARCIA-LUNA
(From top) Castle Butte in the Big Muddy Badlands, near Coronach; the Saskatchewan River runs through Saskatoon. | PHOTOS: (FROM TOP) DAVE REEDE PHOTOGRAPHY/TOURISM SASKATCHEWAN; SCOTT PROKOP/ADOBE STOCK
What images do you like capturing the best?
I photograph a lot when I travel, and I photograph my surroundings. I create a lot of botanical images. This summer, I planted a columbine — the little flowers look like spaceships. I love this kind of strangeness in them.
Is there a painter or visual artist in Saskatoon that you think should be better known?
Off the top of my head, friends of mine. Nancy Lowry — she just had a show at the Remai Modern, which is great. Laura St. Pierre — she’s a photo-based artist as well. Alexa Hainsworth — she does textile work. There are so many people in Saskatoon who deserve attention.
Do you have a favourite road trip destination?
A road trip to the West Coast is amazing, going from the plains to the Rockies to the coast. I also love the road trips to the south [in] Saskatchewan — the Badlands, towards the border [with] Montana. So many people think it’s boring, but you start to notice very small changes, and your perception starts to tune in. Then you notice the change of the light. There are some petroglyphs. The landscape becomes very rugged — it looks almost prehistoric.
What do you enjoy doing when you’re not working?
I enjoy going for long walks along the Saskatchewan River, which is an incredible body of water. The river is like the vertebrae of the city.
Is there an artist’s tool you can’t live without?
The X-Acto knife is such an amazing tool. I really like paper, and cutting paper is very satisfactory for me, you know? I like the weight of the tool. I use different blades for different things. Yeah, the X-Acto knife. And masking tape.
Garcia-Luna’s mixed media work “En Rojo (v.ed 01 of 03)”, from 2025. | PHOTO: COURTESY OF GABRIELA GARCIA-LUNA
IT’S EASY TO REMEMBER a special moment with a snapshot, but hard to capture the emotion that came with it. Mexico City-born, Saskatchewan-based multimedia artist Gabriela Garcia-Luna takes the impulse to document the beauty of our natural world to new heights, capturing “the DNA of an experience or emotion” through her photo-based, constellation-like collages.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF GABRIELA GARCIA-LUNA
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(From left) Castle Butte in the Big Muddy Badlands, near Coronach; the Saskatchewan River runs through Saskatoon. | PHOTOS: (FROM LEFT) DAVE REEDE PHOTOGRAPHY/TOURISM SASKATCHEWAN; SCOTT PROKOP/ADOBE STOCK
What images do you like capturing the best?
I photograph a lot when I travel, and I photograph my surroundings. I create a lot of botanical images. This summer, I planted a columbine — the little flowers look like spaceships. I love this kind of strangeness in them.
Is there a painter or visual artist in Saskatoon that you think should be better known?
Off the top of my head, friends of mine. Nancy Lowry — she just had a show at the Remai Modern, which is great. Laura St. Pierre — she’s a photo-based artist as well. Alexa Hainsworth — she does textile work. There are so many people in Saskatoon who deserve attention.
Do you have a favourite road trip destination?
A road trip to the West Coast is amazing, going from the plains to the Rockies to the coast. I also love the road trips to the south [in] Saskatchewan — the Badlands, towards the border [with] Montana. So many people think it’s boring, but you start to notice very small changes, and your perception starts to tune in. Then you notice the change of the light. There are some petroglyphs. The landscape becomes very rugged — it looks almost prehistoric.
What do you enjoy doing when you’re not working?
I enjoy going for long walks along the Saskatchewan River, which is an incredible body of water. The river is like the vertebrae of the city.
Is there an artist’s tool you can’t live without?
The X-Acto knife is such an amazing tool. I really like paper, and cutting paper is very satisfactory for me, you know? I like the weight of the tool. I use different blades for different things. Yeah, the X-Acto knife. And masking tape.
Garcia-Luna’s mixed media work “En Rojo (v.ed 01 of 03)”, from 2025. | PHOTO: COURTESY OF GABRIELA GARCIA-LUNA