The Suspenseful Susan Fraser-Hughes – by A. M. Kadinopoulou, 2025

Exploring a subject and telling its story, requires a gifted narrator who can engage us in suspense, mystery and drama. The striking visual work of Susan Fraser-Hughes displays an archetypal force, recording imagery which is at once enigmatic and familiar. Her explorations, whether of a place or object, trigger a visceral memory. This method of emoting a physical reaction through her work, is largely how the artist chooses her next project. She allows herself to be open to resonating and connecting with a place, an experience or an object, then applies an ‘analytical-critical’ method.

Using photographic and real-life references, Fraser-Hughes often records her subjects in series, each individual piece being different from the next. Documentation is crucial to her process for the artwork to unfold later in the studio. “Individually, a piece encapsulates a specific element or emotion; together they tell a story”, Susan says of her work. Dedicated to drawing, she adds layers of charcoal to frosted Mylar paper, a combination that allows for incredible ranges in tone, texture and flexibility in style. On occasion, her work takes her in a different direction, using additional mediums.

The meticulousness and accuracy of her draughtsmanship, admits to an artist who takes their time in unveiling the concealed, unexpected or untold story of the objects and landscapes she documents. Born in 1966 in Queensland, Australia, Fraser-Hughes moved to Calgary, Canada in 1996 and later on to Vancouver, where she currently lives and works. She has a PhD in Fine Arts (2017) and has participated in numerous exhibitions in Canada, the USA and England.

As you step into her tidy, brightly-lit studio space, a tingling sensation might overcome you. The more we look, the stronger the attraction, details coming into focus like a manually-operated camera lens. A vortex of shadows beckons us closer, provoking a biological response of awe, as if watching a lunar eclipse. Pure chiaroscuro ranging from stark white to raw black results in an ominous yet inviting feeling, with shifting perspectives. The composition of her 2022 landscapes ‘Journey’ and ‘Journey Too’ border on abstraction, while simultaneously displaying rigorous attention to realistic details in the minute blades of grass along a path cutting through a dark field.

Much like a tuning fork, Fraser-Hughes experiments with various subject matters until she finds something that “speaks” with her inner world. She then exhibits an academic precision and perseverance in researching that subject, from every possible angle. The series ‘Washer’ exemplifies the act of infusing a common object with multi-faceted versions of emotional narratives. This small and often neglected piece of equipment, is elevated to its pure circular form, studied and captured in different lighting on 24×24 inches, bringing to mind representations of the phases of the moon. Captivating and profound in its simplicity, the effect generated is intense, with a hint of gothic allure.

“Through my Art, I lay bare my resonance to places and things. This resonance is shaped by my emotions, my memories, and my history. How a viewer responds to my work, may be dependent upon what they themselves bring, their connections, their own history,” Fraser-Hughes explains.

Her artistic methodology, which is characterized by a mastery of the material properties she creates with, is to keep drawing until the secret life of things reveals itself and becomes part of her psyche. After she has attuned to their archetypal representation and the intuitive connection she felt with them, the project is deemed finished. Her latest series ‘I Am…’ descends into her past, fusing her own daily life and subconscious with that of her ancestors and unveiling her family history, a previously unexplored subject matter.
The series ‘Just a Moment’ is a rare occasion in which Fraser-Hughes delves into portraiture. Two 19th-century mannequin heads used for hat making, serve as models and inspiration for an eerie faceless sequence of drawings that address identity, memory and history. Discovering that her grandmother was a hat maker who likely owned head mannequins just like these, made this an intimate and fragile research. The lack of features and suggestion of a person through the shadows, is a common element in Fraser-Hughes work, which in this case feels like a close-up examination of the unknown or anonymous. Our “left brain” becomes fascinated with observing the details, while our “right brain” is directed into an emotional dream of knowing ourselves beyond the surface, acknowledging our light and dark sides.

The artist describes her work as a documentation of her inner and outer journey, through places she has visited and lived in, as well as aspects of her life and personal history. Her practice is firmly rooted in the discipline of drawing, with a particular focus on the medium of charcoal. What guides her nuanced and atmospheric compositions, is the concept of intertwining the essence of a place or an object with the self, which explains her preference to depicting the outdoors.
“Particularly when I work with landscapes, my work allows me to resurface, to breathe,” she confesses.
Her outstanding series ‘In Conversation with the Woods’, immediately transports the viewer into every fairytale told in the forest by moonlight. The work masterfully creates a deep sense of space depicting dark paths and sunlit clearings surrounded by tall trees. Fraser-Hughes’ use of black in this series emits a haunting sense of deja-vu. The dreamlike quality expressed in the delicate sfumato is overpowered by deep black shadows spreading across the surface like spilled ink. This darkness draws us into the picture, urging us to follow the light, like characters in a story.

In the series ‘Every Rose, A Different Story’ and ‘Rose’, Fraser-Hughes explores the interplay of light and darkness in a manner hinting at the oeuvre of Georgia O’Keefe. Close-ups of blooming flowers fill the frames, evoking a strong tactile sensation of ‘reaching out’ towards the softness of the petals. Resembling flora carved out of marble, the latter series whose tonality is much darker than the former, is also more abstract. This rendering brings us closer to the true form and expression of the particular bloom, rather than relying on a decorative or strictly photorealistic representation of it.

Susan Fraser-Hughes’ work has been exhibited in several esteemed institutions, including the Seymour Gallery in Aberystwyth, Wales, Trianon Gallery in Alberta, Canada, Manifest Gallery in Cincinnati, Ohio, and Triangle Gallery in Calgary, Canada. Furthermore her work is part of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts’ collection.