Travel is my muse . . . as long as I can remember, I dreamt of far off lands. As a child I was convinced that I was from India, it always held a deep connection and is still one of my favourite places on earth.

I grew up being called a gypsy by my family, having few similarities, or interests.  Since I come to discover this is not uncommon for us bitten by wanderlust.

As an Artist, throughout my life, the mediums I have used have changed but the inspirations that I gathered have always come from the same source, my travels, the stories, experiences, the textures, the artisans, the sites and scents, all woven into each layer of my being. . . .expressed in all areas of my life.

My art reflects my life and life reflects my art.

Being self employed, as my children grew, my travels grew too, both in frequency and in duration. 

Always happiest on route to an airport and always saddened by my impending arrival home,  other than missing my family, the truth was, I was the most in alignment with my self when away and living out of a bag, making decisions on the fly and connections as I wandered. Capturing and documenting the details, often the mundane, seen with new eyes as I traversed new cultures and landscapes.

In some way, the traditional North American lifestyle was never my dream, it was just what I was born into and as with most women, the older I got, the more my decisions and actions reflected who I really was, instead of who I grew up thinking I was suppose to be. My life and work started to merge and people started to ask me to scout locations, destinations and connect them with people and places I knew from my travels.

During a scouting trip, I was in the Sahara , in Southern Morocco where I met a man,  . . . and since have relocated to Morocco and created a new life in the desert, renovating a Kasbah.  My art practice has become more transient, without a full time studio, my work  needed to shift, to be more portable and simplified as had my life living in a Berbere Village. 

I continue to capture and document what I witness,  and where I am called . . . the tales + treks of a life of misadventures in creating a life in a Sandcastle in the desert, different culture, language and traditions.  

Little did I know that this would fuel what is now become part of my work . . .  hosting portable/retreats, workshops + gatherings here in Morocco, in our latest business. 

michelle x