Into the Storm Photograph

Steveston based artist Kerri-Jo Stewart discovered a love of photography while capturing the beauty of the equine athlete. She has an extensive background with horses, including both as a competitor and researcher. Kerri-Jo has been involved in endurance riding for a number of years and was top five in North America in Competitive Trail Riding in Sweepstakes earnings and the Western Canadian Champion. She also has a degrees in exercise physiology looking at performance in racehorses in her masters and migration propensity in doctoral research. Kerri-Jo then expanded her new passion for photographing horses to capturing other things through the lens, although she tries to continue to include horses in her work whenever possible. Being an artist is just Kerri-Jo’s latest career after evolving through various jobs, including military officer, intelligence analyst, event coordinator, research scientist, horse breeder, and mother. Travel has always been another passion, from running away in Chile as a teenager to cycling over 5,600 km throughout Europe to Nord Kapp (at 73 degrees N) as a young adult. Over the last few years Kerri-Jo has photographed events and celebrations around the world, earning numerous photographic awards and designations, writing articles in magazines and publishing several photo books. She has covered events in China (meeting with presidents and getting blessed by a Dala Lama reincarnate), Iran (twice, including living with a tribal community in the north for three months), Turkmenistan (nine times for Turkmen Horse events and once for their Independence Day celebrations), Uruguay (covering endurance horse racing) as well as a foodie and adventure tour in Argentina. “I portray what I see and my illusions can become questions for others to experience.”