Atma Frans lives in Gibsons, on ancestral Sḵwx̱wú7mesh territory that is part of Canada’s Sunshine Coast.

She grew up in Flanders, a region of Belgium which was continuously invaded and occupied since Julius Caesar first conquered it in 52 BCE, and which only recently gained cultural and political autonomy.

Atma’s childhood was marked by intergenerational trauma: her parents were children in the Second World War, her grandparents in the First. Yet her work also pays tribute to another side of her Flemish heritage — the spirited perseverance Belgians are known for in spite of their troubled history, as well as their firm determination to enjoy the good things in life.

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