Exhibition Dates and Location
Julie Epp's solo exhibition Borrowed Faces is on display from June 21st - August 7th 2025 at the Walkway Gallery at the Timms Community Centre (20399 Douglas Crescent, Langley, B.C., V3A 4B3). The Timms Community Center is open from Monday - Friday from 6:00 AM - 10:00 PM, Saturday from 8:00 - 6:00 PM, and Sunday from 8:00 AM - 8:00 PM.
Artist Statement - Borrowed Faces
Borrowed Faces is a collection of portraits that reflect my ongoing exploration of identity, perception, and emotional resonance. While the subjects in these works are drawn from photographs, live models, and imagination, they are not portraits in the traditional sense. Instead, they serve as vessels for introspection, each one a blend of observation and inner reflection filtered through personal experience.
At the heart of this body of work is a desire to invite curiosity. Rather than offering clear narratives or symbolic conclusions, these paintings ask viewers to wonder, to pause, and to engage with ambiguity. Beauty plays a central role in my practice, though I recognize it as something deeply subjective. As society becomes more aware of that subjectivity, my work embraces it, allowing beauty to be fluid, emotional, and open to interpretation.
In several of these works, dreamlike elements such as floating figures, surreal landscapes, and symbolic creatures emerge, pointing inward toward the quieter parts of the self. These paintings explore the terrain of the subconscious, where memory, emotion, and imagination combine. They speak to the hidden work of holding onto what has been lost or buried, and the ways we carry our stories in fragments. Through layered imagery and intuitive detail, I explore how we process what is unspoken: emotions like grief, longing, transformation, and the ways dreams can become a space for healing, reflection, and discovery. These pieces reach into that in-between place where emotion becomes myth and the unseen begins to take form.
Painting has long been an emotional outlet for me, especially as a way of managing anxiety. For years, I struggled with the pressure to impress or meet expectations, which turned even creative work into a source of stress. Over time, my practice has shifted from expressing anxiety to soothing it. Now, I choose subjects that bring a sense of peace, including serene figures, surreal themes, bright colours, and natural elements. These images calm the physical experience of anxiety and help restore a sense of inner quiet. My hope is that viewers might find a similar solace in the work.
Young women appear often in my portraits, not always as literal representations, but as emotional or symbolic extensions of myself and others who share similar hopes, doubts, struggles, and desires. Even when the portraits do not look like me, they feel like self-portraits. I am drawn to exaggeration, such as long lashes, dramatic blush, and bold colours, not only as stylistic choices but as expressions of identity and joy.
Borrowed Faces is not a search for resemblance but for resonance. These are not just faces I have painted, but reflections of inner landscapes. Each one is a quiet gesture toward understanding who we are and how we feel.