DIG IT SKID!

St. Catharines artist Melanie MacDonald's Skids

Call someone a ‘skid’ and you’re using a piece of Canadian slang that has an imprecise definition. For me, they were the kids I hung out with in the ‘smoke hole’ at my high school—located next to the tech wing.

Their character seemed to be defined by class and adolescent angst. There was self-defeating nihilism but it was balanced with an unwavering faith in partying. There were other hallmarks too: a love of heavy metal music, drugs and alcohol, and a ‘fuck-you attitude’ that was both playful and genuine.

I’ve made these paintings from found photographs. These aren’t people I know directly. Their portraits are a re-consideration and celebration of a distinctive coming of age, masculinity, rebellion, and the dubious difference between low and high brow.

This series of paintings takes as its title a scrawl of graffiti on a rock-cut along the Trans Canada Highway near Sudbury.