Shane Ackerley is a Toronto-based contemporary artist currently attending Etobicoke School of the Arts for its world-renowned Contemporary Arts program. Inspired deeply by cosmology and astronomy, Ackerley’s work investigates the ties between humans and the universe that we exist within. He questions the world around him, extracting important insights from the process of searching for often unattainable answers. Ackerley allows his scientific research and his introspection to not only co-exist, but to fuel one another.

“The drawings encapsulate my love and admiration for the universe, while simultaneously reflecting my desire to understand. The art that I create propels my research into myself and into the cosmos, a journey that is unending. The texture of the drawing indicates a chaos which is also reduced to a grid, forced to be in a state of comfort with itself. Comparing the activity of neurons within my brain to the fabric of space-time, I allow myself to be at rest while surrounded by an unfathomably vast world.”

“The photograph appears to contain a UFO in the sky. The Unidentified Flying Object (UFO) is an iconic example of mankind’s relationship with the known/unknown. As humans we are curious; we want to know. When observing an object in the sky that we do not understand, we ignore the ‘Unidentified’ aspect of the title ‘UFO’, promptly identifying it as an alien spaceship. This process is one that the scientific method forbids. Science teaches us that assumptions must not be made; one must not claim to know unless compelling evidence has been uncovered. But what is it to know?…”