Section 1 - Introductions
Introduce Yourself! We would like to know you.
I’m Steven, and I use they, them, and their pronouns. I’m a third year Bachelor of Fine Arts student at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, here in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada. In terms of its geographical landmass and population size, Surrey is the second largest city in British Columbia, behind Vancouver. I live in South Surrey, which is about a forty-minute drive southeast of downtown Vancouver, and it’s also close to the border with Washington State. As a Canadian citizen, I was born in Williams Lake, a small town in British Columbia nestled in a natural wilderness that I’ve often missed over the years.
My artistic practice uses a interdisciplinary approach with a variety of media that includes drawing, painting, performance art, analog and digital photography, as well as sculpture and installation to explore issues of identity and humanity’s impact on our environment.
In 2020, I announced to the world on social media that I was demipansexual, and in 2021 I came out as genderfluid, or nonbinary / genderqueer. By birth, on my biological Mother’s side, I have Indigenous First Nations roots which I have recently been learning more about. Ultimately, I look very white and I’ve always done my best to understand and own the privilege that comes with that.
Artifact 1: Photo, Steven H. Lee. "COMING OUT DEMIPANSEXUAL." August 19, 2020.
I’ve long suffered from major depression and anxiety, it’s something that’s haunted me for as long as I can remember - like a grey fog that’s often floating just above my head. I understand now that when I was younger I was a high functioning depressive, and was I was often very good at putting on different masks to hide my depression from other people, including members of my own family. As I get closer to forty than I’d like to be, I’ve learned that my depression resulted in my developing high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes, primarily due to my propensity to indulge in unhealthy junk food as a way of burying my pain. In the last few years, it’s also impacted my ability to sleep in that I suffer from insomnia as well as sleep apnea due to my being overweight because of the overeating. I’d then often end up sleeping a lot throughout the day which killed my ability to be productive with anything. So I’m trying to take steps towards addressing all of this, through mindfulness and walking everyday.
I’m also dyslexic, which can make it difficult to learn new things, especially if there’s memorization involved. For example, I do a lot of photography, and I have a fairly good eye for composing interesting shots but I still struggle describing how aperture, shutter speed, and ISO affect exposure in a photograph. But I can do it, like it’s a kind of muscle memory when I hold a camera.
Artifact 2: Photo, Steven H. Lee. “FADED PLACES” is a 20"x28" digital daytime long exposure taken on February 23, 2019.
Finally, I’m also an empathic INFJ-T, which means I can take on and feel emotions very easily. I used to view this as a curse, but more recently, I’ve tried to appreciate this aspect of my identity, as it’s helped me to cultivate unconditional compassion, curiosity, forgiveness, gratitude, love, and reverence for all life, starting with myself. Although I know that, due to my depression, I’ve not always been great at cultivating this for myself. But I’m trying.