In her new show Make. Believe., painter Felicia Fraser hopes to capture feelings of childhood nostalgia.

“I’m hoping that it will be interactive and engaging. I want it to be an experience so that when people come, they’re not only just looking at childhood objects, they’re actually interacting with them,” she says via phone. “The whole point is to make your inner child come alive when you go there and be flooded with nostalgia and have room to be silly and playful and have a really good time.”

The inspiration for this show came from trying to find what brings her joy at this point in her life.

“What was really helpful for me was a lot of reflecting on my childhood—not just to see where I’ve been, but also just the qualities of childhood,” Fraser says. “The curiosity, the leaning into who you are with no shame or fear, being able to be silly and have fun and just enjoy things—just pure enjoyment. All those qualities came to the surface again in my own journey.”

Fraser’s colourful, lifelike paintings of childhood objects will be on display at This Gallery from May 24 until June 1. In order to bring people into the experience as much as possible, there will be interactive sections along with the artworks.

“You will be able to sit in a blanket fort; you can drive cars around on car tracks; there will be self-inking stamps that say ‘poop’ and ‘toot,’” Fraser says. “Everyone who leaves will be a friend, and they will get a friendship bracelet made by a real kid.”

She hopes that going forward, all the shows she does are able to have interactive elements.

“The shows are really special because I can do those extra things that really make it impactful and enjoyable for people,” she explains.

Fraser began painting at a young age, but stopped for a while and pursued a career in graphic design. She says she got back into art, and then began doing it full time, because of the pandemic.

“Covid hit and my job disappeared as a graphic designer, so it was just kind of, ‘I need to do this full time.’ It became pretty clear to me,” she says. “That was during the pandemic and I’m still doing it. I’m getting gallery shows now and I’m expanding my work.”

Her favourite painting for this show is one she recently finished. Featuring dinosaur figurines, it’s the epitome of the emotions she hopes to strike in people.

“For me personally, dinosaurs are a symbol of childhood,” she says. “For me it’s the meaning of keeping your childhood, your inner child, alive.”

She loves the way that art brings out different reactions in people.

“Art can be very powerful; it helps people access parts of themselves and ways of thinking that nothing else could really bring them to,” she says. “It helps you consider things in a new light; it helps you question things.”

She also appreciates how it acts as a tool for self-expression.

“No two people’s artwork is the same,” she says. “It’s such a pure expression of who that person is; it’s like a fingerprint.”

Make. Believe.

When: May 24 to June 1

Where: This Gallery