Stephanie Pflugfelder
Stephanie Pflugfelder is a Canadian born Ni-Vanuatu visual artist. Her work explores Vanuatu’s culture and natural beauty through the use of acrylics, watercolours, and digital art. Stephanie uses vibrant colours to reflect Vanuatu’s spirit; a country navigating a still-unravelling colonial history, and that perseveres through culture, community, respect, and resilience.
My first memories of making art were with my Mom.
I remember being around 2 years old in my high chair at home in Canada, with my Mom out of sight for just a moment. As toddlers do, I knocked over my cup of tea and made a mess on the table in front me.
I vividly recall how I could trace my fingers through the tea to make different shapes and change the hues on the table - my first drawings. My mom came back into the kitchen and made a fuss about the mess, as Mothers do.
From then on, my Mom noticed that I had a natural pull towards art. She saw the ways that I would find and use any household item to try and bring a vision to life - whether it be tea, tearing at the wallpaper on the walls, bundling tissues, or sticking pieces of cardboard together.
From those early years onwards, we spent cherished moments together creating. My Mom herself a talented craftsperson - working with beads, textiles, and secretly writing poems that I uncovered through the years, she gave me the space and the support to try my hand at any craft that my little hands could grasp, allowing my creative path to flourish without limitations.
Those early memories shaped my path forward as an artist; to have the person you love the most guide you without boundaries as a creative is a blessing in a world that tries to shape the way your ideas manifest.
Over the years, my family and I spent our time in Canada where I was born, in Mexico where I was raised, and in Vanuatu where my family is from. My Mom was raised in Erakor village, where we spent countless holidays together with my aunties, uncles, and cousins.
As someone who was raised mixed, it took me a long time to understand who I was and my heritage. Navigating multiple cultures and being pulled between so many different worlds made it difficult to settle down and orient myself. Despite the many roots that tethered me to so many different places, I often felt misplaced and without a firm foundation to stand on to understand who I was.
My art was the constant that allowed me to connect those disparate parts of myself. It allowed me to find firm ground in any place and at any moment; to document my experiences in any way that I felt compelled to - to try and make sense of my surroundings.
In 2018, my Mom was diagnosed with a neurodegenerative disease called Progressive Supranuclear Palsy. Amongst the complexity of navigating the frightening unknowns and having to be her advocate and caregiver, I realized that I never really had the opportunity to understand my Mom’s culture in the ways that I wanted to.
Over the years, I plunged into learning about Vanuatu. I finally put on a brave face and started speaking Bislama with my Mom, as speaking English became harder and harder for her. I learned about our history, our culture, and my family - searching through books and academic papers, through sharing laughs and tears with my family, and flipping through as many photo archives as I could possibly find.
In 2022, I helped my parents move to Vanuatu to be closer to our family and escape the Canadian winters. In 2023, I joined them to help support my Mom’s care and to experience life in Vanuatu firsthand.
Over the years, I drew inspiration from my surroundings - in the vast beauty of the Pacific ocean, the way papayas and bananas grow everywhere (even on the side of the road), the stunning shades of the flowers, the families in matching calico, and in sacred cultural artefacts like the Tamtam. It was impossible to not be inspired by Vanuatu’s unique aesthetic.
I spent my time painting this collection in my new home, and helping my Mom live the most fulfilling life possible given her condition. Even in spite of her health, my Mom’s eyes still lit up when I would show her my works in progress, even if it was accompanied by me expressing a common frustration that every artist knows well, that I was just not getting it “quite right”.
In April 2026, my Mom and I said our last goodbyes to each other. The past 8 years have been my life’s most monumental challenge, and the ones that I will forever hold closest to my heart.
These paintings and drawings represent the threads that connect me to my history and my ancestors, of which my Mom is now one. Although my upbringing pulled me in so many different directions, my Mom instilled in me an ability to find myself through the process of creation - a gift that I will carry with me for the rest of my life.
Stephanie Eleonore Pflugfelder.
