Meet March Artist of the Month: Deuphine Apedaile

We’re feeling sexy at SAD in anticipation of our upcoming SEX Issue. That’s why this month’s featured artist Deuphine Apedaile, a local photographer who captured our attention through her bare-it-all portfolio featuring women in the wild.

SAD: How does the term 'Artist' play into your identity?
Deuphine: Since I was a child, it was always something I strived for or felt natural to me. I've grown up around a lot of artists. My Dad is a painter, landscape designer- he sort of does all forms of art. So he kind of pushed me to explore pretty much every art form. My mom gave me my first camera when I was three and she's a photographer as well. I grew up with my step mom working at Vancouver Art Gallery so I was running around there, wreaking havoc, so it always made sense to me that art should be a part of my life. 

What about photography felt the most natural avenue for you?
I'm a pretty big perfectionist and I ended up finding it was the art form I was able to present my ideas and visions in a way that was actually satisfying. It was able to actually take an idea from my brain and turn it into something I could look at. 

Do you remember some of your first couple of pictures? 
There's photos that I took of myself while I was in the bathtub and stuff—of my toes and little parts of my body. It’s interesting that even from a young age I was focused on the body and did a lot of self portraits. 

Your portfolio shows a wide range, but there seems to be a theme of female bodies. What draws you to those subjects?
My photos are a way for me to connect with other women which I really enjoy—whether it's people I know, or strangers I meet and ask later if they want to be photographed. First off, womens’ bodies are gorgeous. I was raised surrounded by a lot of really powerful and empowered women, who also spent a lot of time naked, so that was something I was always paying attention to and seeing as something beautiful. There's a connection with that sort of demand for vulnerability from not only [women I photograph] but me as well—to create that safe space where we get to have fun, be free and reclaim whether we want to be powerful, sexy, soft or all of those things at the same time. 

Is this your full time gig?
I work as a mental health worker at a low barrier shelter, working 12 hour night shifts. That's what I'm generally busy with and then I just squeeze as much photography as I can in between. When I have the energy and time. I do some paid stuff but a lot is just personal projects

What kind of personal projects do you have going on now?
Currently, I don't have any going on. I do a lot of personal photo shoots just for fun. Once it warms up and my schedule changes at work, I would like to focus on a project that's fully inspired by classical paintings. Essentially in my own way recreating the paintings and then doing closeups and stuff within that and then creating the paintings from my photographs. The full hurtle. 

What's the project you're most proud of at this point? 
I don't know if i have any specific projects i'm the most proud of. Ones where I have a set photo shoot that sort of take on it's own life within it.I really enjoy that—where it can be more candid. This summer I took photos with a couple, which I've never done before. I really enjoyed doing that, having a man and woman interacting and just kinda trying to capture their genuine feelings for each other.

Why 35mm?
I started shooting 35mm when I was like 14 years old  because I had a photography class I was starting. I pretty much just fell in love with the dark room. That experience of actually tangibly and viscerally being in the dark room processing my own negatives. It felt very controlled but also in an experimental kind of way where you don't really know what your results are going to be but then once you get them back I just felt a lot more comfortable editing them there in the dark room than on the computer. I also find I spend too much time doing dumb stuff on the computer so when I'm engaging in an art form or something cathartic for myself I don't want to be on a screen or dependent on it. The results I find to be much more genuine for myself because that's what i feel comfortable using

Is it difficult being on Instagram when there's nudity going on?
I probably show an eighth of my work, and half of the stuff I do show gets deleted. It also causes me anxiety sometimes, the social media platform, but it's a good way to connect with other people so that's kind of why I've kept it. 

What do you think is the best part of being an artist in Vancouver? 
Probably the connections that you get to make. Vancouver has a lot of really amazing artists. There's so many amazing people I've met just through my art form that have really become great friends of mine. So it's a way for people to connect in a city that's otherwise kind of cold. I find that almost all of friendships with women in the city have gone deeper and deeper through us collaborating through art. 

What do you think is the worst part?
We have very little support. It's a very expensive city to be making art in. It's very hard to find affordable studios, and there's a lot of amazing artists and a lot of amazing connections made through it, but there's not a lot of art spaces. They're wanting to collaborate and really get together, but not really having the resources and spaces to do that.

Would you say you're self taught or did you take courses? 
Definitely a mix of things. Self taught because I've been exploring all art forms my whole life, especially photography. But I also took classes in high school, went to an arts summer camp as a kid, and I did go to Concordia for one year of fine arts photography when I was in 19 in Montreal.

Who inspires you here in Vancouver?
I'd say my friends really inspire me. I know a woman who’s a designer, so we'll collaborate a lot to create a specific world together. Mostly all female artists. I really love the female world of photography. 

How would you describe your art- is a disciplined process or more of a cathartic experience?
I'd say that it's more a thing of relief and catharsis. It's a lot of fun. I've honestly been thinking recently that I need to get more into self portraits because since I'm always working with other people, quite often, it's a fun,busy whirlwind of an experience. I'm not really getting the private catharsis out of it anymore if that makes sense. It just helps kinda quiet you down. So I want to get back into some more self portrait and also get back into painting or something that I can do on my own so it's not a social event at the same time as making art.

You can view Deuphine’s art through her Instagram @the.dirtbag.princess