Cepukas' artistic practice is rooted in a long-standing connection to the natural world, shaped by over a decade working in forestry across Canada. Now based in Ottawa, she creates surreal “naturescapes” that merge sculpture, photography, digital manipulation, and painting.
"My current exploration into building dioramas results in surreal paintings composed of recognizable natural elements; however, their unconventional colour palettes and strange compositions distance them from real nature. A tension between the real and the artificial runs throughout my work. Using foraged, found, and handmade objects, I construct small worlds that play with scale to heighten this sense of surreality - for example, tiny sticks become full-sized trees, and leaves rival animals in size. By recreating “natural” scenes as still lifes, the work embraces a deliberate contradiction: a form of wildlife and nature painting rooted in references that are partially plastic, carefully staged, and ultimately not alive."
