I use my physicality, my body, my facial hair to disappear in a way and create a fake a reality. - 2Fik, photo performance artist

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Introducing our new series Art Is My Country. See the stories of 10 bicultural Canadian artists explore the rupture and rebirth of navigating somewhere between identities. Watch more.

Chameleonic Montreal photo performance artist 2Fik plays many, many characters. For his work he transforms into and performs as a whole host of characters, and his composite photo performances explore identity, gender and image. "I like the idea of just blowing the concept of image and perception."

Initially I was taking self portraits, in which I was wearing some accessories. Little by little these accessories allowed me to create characters with biographies, with a story, with fears, envies, fantasies…things that make us who we are as human beings.

Born in France, 2Fik lived in Morocco for several years and then moved to Montreal in 2003. He's found that living here has given him a new way to express himself as an artist. "I believe that as an artist I started to use a language that is a typical Canadian language," he explains. "It's a language I did not have before."

"Clearly I wouldn't have done the work that I'm doing if I was not in Canada, in Quebec, because the identity questions that are inherent to the society here are unique."

The Death of Dishonest Abdel (2Fik)

The way we have the capacity here to give space to question, to doubt, is not something that I've seen in the past.

The Marriage of Abdel and Fatima (2Fik)

What I try to do with my art [is] to show that the doubts that we have about identity are the same for each and every one of us.

Art Is My Country is a CBC Arts series that explores the singular worlds of artists who consider themselves bicultural. Seen through the eyes of 10 Canadian artists who have either immigrated to Canada or felt the need to reclaim an identity they thought they had lost, the series examines how each artist uses their craft to navigate, explore and adapt to their new reality and shifting identity.

Each portrait will highlight one artist's story of rupture, displacement and ultimate rebirth as a new artistic voice contributing to the narrative of Canadian culture and experience. Watch the full series now.