Ariel was born in the town of Alert Bay, British Columbia, and started looking at things pretty much right away. She started recording the things she looked at while in her first year at the University of Toronto, where she studied Philosophy and Film. After finishing an honors degree there, she decided that academics were missing the point, and moved to Japan for three years. There she found relief from language as the primary filter for reality, and started taking photographs constantly, drawing on Zen traditions and Japanese aesthetics of daily life. She returned to her home province to reconnect with her history in 2005 and has thrown herself wholeheartedly into shooting portraits, film stills, and commercial work, while continuing to develop personal art projects. She has a great eye and a great enthusiasm.