Dionne Simpson is a Toronto based artist who emigrated from Jamaica to Canada at the age of one. She graduated from The Ontario College of Art and Design in 2000 and spent a year in New York City where she studied fine art at the Cooper Union School for the Advancement of Art and Science. Dionne has received numerous grants and awards and her paintings are a part of many private and public collections. In 2004, Dionne was the national winner of the RBC New Canadian Painting Competition. Dionne Simpson is represented in Calgary by ArtFirm. Through the creation of her canvases Simpson shares moments of a personal investigation, which manifest into physical form. By fusing old techniques with new images, familiar words in an unfamiliar presentation with new images, attract us, engage us and keep us looking for a resolution. For Simpson, they present her personal examination of her own identities, but for all of us they reflect a present reality in a new way. The paintings reflect our contemporary world in urban Canada, which, of course is not resolved, but continually evolving.