Shawna has always been an observer with a particular way of perceiving. She was late-diagnosed with AuDHD (Autism + ADHD) which identified for her what she had spent years working around, and working with. It’s the source of her research — through image, through the body, through reading and writing — and the reason attention, pace, and sensory environment aren’t theoretical abstractions to her.

Shawna grew up in the Canadian prairies, with stretches of her childhood spent in Kenya and Pakistan. It was an early immersion in cultural difference that has stayed with her.

Her professional path began in theater in Winnipeg, followed by a degree in Communications and multidisciplinary freelance work (web development, graphic design, creative direction, photography) until 2021. Her undergraduate focus on mass media studies left her disillusioned with how little substance Western coverage gave to events like the 2006 Lebanon War and the Rwandan Genocide. She went to photograph and hear firsthand accounts for understanding that wasn’t reachable without being there in person.

She was living in Montreal in 2008 when a visit to a friend in Mexico City’s circus scene turned into a decision to stay. As a single mother with an eight-year-old son and a new language to learn, she settled with him in the neighborhood of Coyoacán.

What followed was ten years co-founding and building Casa de Artes y Circo Contemporáneo — a center built on integrity and quality education. It became a second home to many young adults. Her work there centered on art education, community development, and international programs; several of its students are now working circus artists. The center continues today, at a smaller scale, focused on the classes and workshops it became known for.

Her interest in the role of arts in health eventually led her to clinical training: an MSc in Body Psychology and Body Psychotherapy (University of East London), and advanced training in Art Psychotherapy with the Canadian International Institute of Art Therapy, where she later taught (2022). She is a professional member of the Canadian Art Therapy Association. In 2024 she presented at UNAM (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México) as part of a symposium on arts and mental health. She writes essays from a phenomenological perspective on attention, perception, and lived experience through an AuDHD lens, on Substack.

Her art practice — portraits, writing, and visual work, including asemic writing — explores what stays just below language: image and gesture as ways into what usually goes unspoken. She is currently writing a short novel, her main artistic focus lately. And alongside a small private practice, now closed to new clients, she is developing Apertura. It’s her art lab — courses, workshops, and resources — launching in 2026.