Nicholas Aiden: Otherside

Elbow Room Residency Series

Otherside is Nicholas Aiden’s empowered reimagining of the folkloric “fairy ring.” Transforming a public space into a queer interior, the artist presents visitors with an intimate, inviting place where a fairy dance has just ended. The space becomes a metaphor for joyful rebellion and a safe space for queer expression. Aiden reclaims the term “fairy” as a derogatory term for queerness, and asks us to reconsider the story of fairies or the “hidden folk” as a parable for othering, and fairy shapeshifting characteristics as an analogy for self-determining bodies comfortable with changing identities.

The exhibition is accompanied by a brochure with a text by guest author Rhonda Pelley.

About Nicholas Aiden

Nicholas Aiden is a queer artist from St. John’s, NL. They hold a BFA in Photography from OCAD University. Their work has been shown in spaces such as Gallery TPW, the Confederation Centre for the Arts, the Art Gallery of Hamilton, the Scotiabank Contact Photography Festival and in various publications. In 2019, Aiden was longlisted for the Scotiabank New Generation Photography Award. Aiden’s artistic practice focuses on the emotionality of queer identity and intimacy, and the social navigation of the ‘self.’ They explore these themes with a keen interest in the social organization of interior and exterior spaces—emotional and corporeal, indoor and outdoor, public and private, digital and physical, queer and non-queer.

To learn more: https://nicholasaiden.ca/

About the Elbow Room Residency Series

This exhibition is part of the Elbow Room Residency Series, which provides studio space and support for emerging artists in the province. To learn more or apply to the Elbow Room Residency Program click here. 

Image: Detail of Otherside (2023). Mixed media installation. Collection of the artist. Image: Nicholas Aiden.