The Activist 5 (Hear Me)

About The Activist 5 (Hear Me)

This contemporary surreal painting by Toni Hamel explores the politics of climate change.

The dreamlike, provocative imagery of Toni Hamel’s work has won her an impressive international audience. Hamel’s visual language is a heady mix of surrealism, pop art and neo-realism. Each painting tells a story—often with humour or satire about world events and ‘humanity’s hubris’—both historical and present day in dealing with them. Her beautifully detailed and colourful illustrations explore important topics that include the natural environment, societal standards and our own universal psychological ‘demons’.
In this oil painting, a killer whale is seen rising out of the sea, facing a human figure who is standing on a small ice floe and writing on the whale’s head, ‘Hear me.’ It’s a clever, clear and sobering social comment on the world crisis of climate change. The palette is appropriately muted—black and white, a gray sea. The only pop of colour is the bright yellow rain slicker and the lettering in blood red.

“(This is) part of a small series of paintings titled "The activist", this painting warns us about the consequences of climate change and its repercussions on the natural world and ourselves. I am also an activist at heart, although I express my rage and discontent through my brushes rather than by protesting in the streets. I used to, but I'm now too old for that.” Toni Hamel

“As the works (of Toni Hamel) often speak on very serious topics, they do so in a humorous manner. While some take time to fully understand and find the meaning each one has a playfulness. It’s this aspect of her work which makes it so easy to enjoy and connect, she has found a way to convey a meaningful message through comedy and beautiful art without taking away from the bigger story.” (MYARTISREAL)

Toni Hamel was born in Italy in 1961. In the early 1980s, she acquired a BFA from the Accademia di Belle Arti of Lecce in Italy. Upon arriving in Canada, she furthered her studies and attained a post-graduate Certificate in Computer Graphics from Sheridan College (Canada, 1991). The recipient of several awards, among others, she received the Golden Key National Honour Society Award from the University of Toronto (Specialist Programme in Psychology, 1997) and the Lubiam Prize (Milan, 1983). Her work has been exhibited in public and commercial galleries in Canada, the USA, and Europe. Among other international private collectors, it is included in the collections of Mr. J.J. Abrams, Ms. Whoopi Goldberg, and Ms. Julia Roberts. Public collections include the Archives of Ontario/Government of Ontario, the Robert McLaughlin Gallery, and the Omer DeSerres Corporation. Toni Hamel lives and works in Kingston, Ontario.