Creative Connector Updated on Nov 20, 2025 3 min read

Untitled Portals, Variations

Tour-ready project by Laura Kay Keeling.

Keywords: visual art, exhibition, workshop

Untitled Portals, Variations presents a series of collages, an installation piece, and a virtual space by Laura Kay Keeling, initially as part of CAFKA.25 Field Guide to the Understory. Through a process-centred approach, the artist experimented with and merged analog and digital processes to expand on an earlier series, Untitled Portals.

These pieces incorporate natural elements that have been photographed both digitally and on 35mm film, scanned using a flatbed scanner and a 3D scanner, digitally manipulated, and then brought into physical form. Continuing a dialogue between the natural and digital world, the work explores connections to where we find ourselves, the incredible and important ecosystems that surround us, and the joys that can come from everyday moments of being in and engaging with our surroundings through reciprocal care and respect.

How can we maintain and evolve connections to the natural world in an increasingly isolating and technology-dependent society?

Can virtual spaces be used to encourage folks to take pause and explore, and can moments of joy and excitement be replicated in these virtual environments?

About the Artist

Laura Kay Keeling (she/her/they) is a disabled, self-taught visual artist, located in Hamilton, ON (Canada), with a practice that questions how we form connections with the natural world. Her work encompasses analog photography/video, digital collage, and installation. They have exhibited work across Ontario, in the United States and South Korea and have received support from the Ontario Arts Council. She has created large-scale public artworks ranging in size for different cities and municipalities. Their work has been included in feature films, The Walrus Magazine and more.