Joy Adeola (Mississauga, ON)

Bio

Joy Adeola is a Nigerian-Canadian visual artist. Through storytelling, she explores interpersonal bonds, following the changing rhythms of our relationships with ourselves and others. Her work combines vivid contrast and an intimate warmth to uncover the beauty and nuanced complexities often hidden in our everyday lives.

Exploring the intricate tapestry of human connections and our interaction with the world around us, her work celebrates the beauty and complexities often hidden in our everyday lives. By magnifying the overlooked facets of life, she unveils a hidden richness, inviting viewers to pause and appreciate the myriad of stories unfolding around them.

Artist Statement

Through film photography, my work explores the beauty found within individuals and the spaces they inhabit. I am passionate about capturing both people and environments, using sharp contrast to highlight the intricate interplay between light and shadow. This interplay visualizes the complexities inherent in the human experience, presenting a rawness in both good and challenging times.

My primary focus is dedicated to the celebration of people as they authentically exist, with a special focus on the rich diversity within black communities. In a world often dominated by shallow narratives, I am committed to shedding light on the multifaceted nature of black identity. Through my lens, I seek to counteract the tendency to overlook or typecast our community, showcasing the richness and diversity that often goes unnoticed.

My work is inspired by the resilience of African, black and POC communities and the vibrant cultures that shape their identities. Drawing inspiration from trailblazing artists such as Gordon Parks, Dawoud Bey and Roy DeCarava, I aim to capture the raw beauty of individuals while addressing pressing societal issues. Their work serves as a guiding light for my own artistic journey, inspiring me to use photography as a platform for both celebration and thoughtful reflection.

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Oksana Berda (Toronto, ON)

Bio

Oksana Berda is an independent abstract artist working and living in Toronto, CA. She holds a Master of Arts from the University of New Brunswick in Creative Writing, which informs the narrative quality of her work. Her paintings and sculptures explore the lyricism of elements found in the natural world. Berda's work has been featured on HGTV,

She-Explores.com, Mimp Magazine, and the Toronto Guardian. In addition to showing in group and solo art shows, her work has been installed at prominent locations in the city such as the Hyatt Hotel.

Artist Statement

My work has become increasingly experimental as I refine and develop my visual language. In my most recent body of work I draw on all my skills  to create art that is innovative and subversive. I deconstruct my paintings by unraveling them strand by strand. This process transforms the canvas into

a new material, freeing it from its traditional role. By breaking it down to its essence, I’m able to reimagine its possibilities, discovering new forms through problem-solving and building a visual language from scratch. The resulting pieces are lyrical and poetic—simultaneously simple yet complex. I draw inspiration from poetry, literature, and the natural world. I am someone who has always felt the ground moving beneath my feet with constant change from a young age- so I’ve turned to abstraction, the

wheel of time and seasons as a way to create a center that holds.. Through my work, I seek to capture the fluidity of life while creating something that holds its own balance.

you & i. you first.

i can wait. i did wait.

that's how it came to an end.

the waiting unraveled me, the aloneness unraveled you. two halves of one soul.

a faint memory of someone i knew. someone i might have loved. if it was fated, maybe so was the undoing. what will we do now? a fork  in the road.

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Miguel Caba (Toronto, ON)

Bio

Miguel Caba is based in Boston and Toronto, pursuing a BFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University. Their work explores how experiences and relationships can be mediated through technology and digital fabrication. Recently, they have shown at OVERLAP (Newport, RI), Gagné Contemporary (Toronto, Canada), and Bromfield Gallery (Boston, MA). They are a recipient of the Elizabeth Greenshields Grant, the Grow North Microgrant from North York Arts and were previously a Summer Scholars Research Fellow at Tufts University. 

Artist Statement

One painting hugs the other as they travel the world together. 

I have been working with content produced out of the distance between me, my mom, and her mother, between Boston, Toronto, and the Philippines respectively. I long for their presence, yet I am only able to feel close to them through images sent through text or video calls. I turn these digital images into sculptural paintings–some fit together to form boxes, while others take the shape of household items like a curtain or a couch, alluding to real objects from home. This ever-present idea of longing for home is inspired by the Filipino tradition of sending Balikbayan (meaning “to return to the homeland”) boxes from abroad back to the Philippines. In a way, these works bridge the distance between us. They become memories akin to dreams.

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Carolyn Cheng (Toronto, ON)

Bio

Carolyn Cheng is an artist whose work re-examines traditional elements of landscape photography from an abstract aerial perspective by transforming water, sand and earth, to investigate aspects of the feminine sublime in the natural world.  

She has shown at Gallery 44, the Toronto Outdoor Art Fair, the Art Gallery of Hamilton, the Robert McLaughlin Gallery and TMU’s Paul H. Cocker Gallery.  She has been published in On Landscape, Elements and Photo Ed Magazines as well as in National Geographic’s Photo of the Week series.  She has also received awards from Critical Mass, Prix de la Photographie Paris and the International Photography Awards.

Artist Statement

Meltwater is a series of photographs that illustrate melting glaciers in remote regions of Alaska, revealing the potential effects of climate change, if unabated. 

By introducing colour solarization into the series, the images showcase glaciers and meltwater pools not only in their natural state but also in a future dystopian world.  Solarizing the images creates vivid, absurdist and surreal colour transformations; for example, blues turn to oranges where fragmenting glaciers resemble the wooden embers of a dying fire, or mountainous hard rock transforms into flowing molten lava.  With further experimentation and transmutation of the image, solarization pushes the naturalistic liquid blue of meltwater pools into electric magenta, fuschia and green. These warm, unnatural colours render glacial pools into the visually familiar weather language of heat maps and thermograms; the latter illustrating meltwater pools as literal and figurative heat markers within the ice.  

In the face of the potential loss of these spectacular natural wonders, “Meltwater” invites reflection on the dramatic rise in glacier melt resulting in rising ocean levels, flooded coastal cities and challenging global weather disruptions.

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Sofia Escobar (Toronto, ON)

Bio

Sofia is a Toronto-based artist with a multicultural background from Peru, Ecuador and Canada. She graduated from OCAD University with a degree in Material Art & Design: Fibre. Her work intricately explores the fusion of materiality and spatial dynamics through complex thread sculptures and line drawings. Driven by a fascination with textile construction, Sofia's art delves into architecture, optical illusions, and the human experience within these crafted spaces, examining the intersections between her creations and their surroundings.

Sofia has shown her work in various mediums, including textile art at The Textile Museum of Canada (2015), film at Jackman Hall AGO (2014) and recently has created site-specific installations at Ontario Place (2023) and Nathan Phillips Square (2022) as well as a solo exhibition at Pierre Leon Gallery in Toronto (2024).

Artist Statement

This body of work explores themes of visual languages, optical illusion, and architecture. Driven by a desire to push the boundaries of textile arts, I aim to craft a unique visual language that invites viewers to reconsider their perception of textiles and their relationship with space.

My illustrations delve into the intersection of pattern and abstraction through geometric ink compositions. By employing precise line work and repetitive patterns, I create dynamic pieces that evoke a sense of movement within the stillness of form. For me, these drawings are studies in balance—between rigidity and fluidity, simplicity and complexity. The interplay of lines and shapes reflects both natural and man-made structures, echoing architectural forms and organic growth. Each piece becomes a meditation on structure and perception, challenging the way we interpret space and form within a two-dimensional plane.

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Raha Fard (Aurora, ON)

Bio

Raha Fard has a Master’s Degree in Telecommunication Engineering and 14 years of experience before OCAD U. She explores the intersection of body, psychoanalysis, politics, and art as a member of the Iranian diaspora and a cancer survivor. 

Raha was selected as one of the three artist-researchers for AGO X RBC Emerging Artist Exchange Program in 2024. She exhibited her works in Iran, Canada, Italy, and Korea. OCAD U President’s Award, Patricia Joy Alpert Memorial Award, Full Ontario Graduate Scholarship, Graduate Studies Research Grant, First Year Graduate Award, Art Gallery of Mississauga’s 4th Annual Juried Show Second Prizeand Scarborough Arts' 36th Annual Juried Exhibition Award are some of her awards. She published a novel in Farsi “محوشدگی”, which was included in the list of ten Farsi books published outside Iran in 2023 by BBC Farsi.

Artist Statement

I am floating in blood. Innocent people are being executed each dawn. Their eyes will not leave me, their enthusiastic eyes, that are filled with hope. My body is woven in the pain and suffering I perceive from their traumatized bodies. I feel smothered by my sympathies. I repress the anger inside my body, the anger that comes from the sense of being helpless in my existence. 

For The Woven Bodies Series, I incorporated my body’s silhouette from the Evanescence Archival Performance Series (a photograph series taken while I was moving unconsciously with a Persian Rug covering my body) to make the floral patterns of Persian rugs’ various designs, by digital collage in Photoshop, and woven by jacquard loom, to evoke the carpet’s embodiment for the audience, and resonate with the interwoven pain in my body. My body is repeated between the textile patterns of the Persian Rug and the photo-documented performance act of being covered by the rug itself. The photography series brings my body’s unsettlement, isolation, and suffering into the work. 

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Sylvia Galbraith (Fergus, ON)

Bio

Sylvia Galbraith is a photographic artist working in digital and analogue photographic processes. Her photographs demonstrate a deep connection with the landscapes and people found in Canada’s loneliest places. Galbraith has participated in residencies in Newfoundland, Banff, Northern Ontario, and Iceland and has an extensive exhibition record.

Galbraith is active in the arts community; she has served on the Board of the Elora Centre for the Arts (ON) and is currently their exhibition curator. She is a member of several Arts Councils, and Gallery 44 Centre for Contemporary Photography in Toronto. She arranges exhibitions for various venues throughout the GTA and is involved with the Contact Photography Festival in Toronto, both as an artist and a curator. Galbraith has taught photography courses throughout Canada, including for the University of Toronto, University of Brandon (MB) and Humber College, and was an Associate Faculty Member for Conestoga College’s Photography Certificate Program for 12 years. 

Artist Statement

As a child of immigrants, I have often felt out of place; questioning inherited ideas of belonging within the context of immigration and settlement. I am drawn to remote communities where people have lived for generations, demonstrating a bond with their environment which keeps them firmly in place. What it is about these hard places that brings out this loyalty and refusal to move somewhere easier? Why are they so rooted, and I am not? I consider the emotional layers that shape our sense of belonging, and my own connections to the landscape - the physicality of the ground beneath me, the stability and constancy of rocks that are millions of years old, the reassurance of things remaining in place.

Recently we have experienced a worldwide shift in many ways; our commonly-held beliefs in political, societal and environmental systems have been shaken, leaving behind a sense of instability and disquiet in a world we can no longer trust. My artistic practice has experienced a major shift as well; returning to the darkroom, I have a renewed interest in the analogue processes that informed my earliest work. These methods demonstrate the physical and tactile nature of a photograph - a reflection of physically being in the landscape. The ephemeral quality of these processes complements the nature of my subject, in that light, landscape and human situations are transitory and will not last.

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Paul Gravett (Vancouver, BC)

Bio

Paul Gravett is recognized for imagery that blurs the boundary between photography and fine art. His "Colour Studies" series, which embraces unpredictability, is particularly celebrated for pushing the limits of what is possible with the photographic medium. 

Gravett’s images has been recognized with numerous international awards, including recent honours from the Budapest International Foto Awards, Close Up Photographer of the Year international competition, International Photography Awards, LensCulture, and Tokyo International Foto Awards. Recent exhibitions include Czong Institute for Contemporary Art (Korea), Dama Gallery (Ventura, CA), House of Lucie (Budapest, Hungary), PH21 Gallery (Budapest, Hungary), Art Gallery Studios (Mexico City), Langley Arts Council (solo exhibition), and the Galerie la Grande Vitrine (Arles, France). Images have also been seen in Sweden, Italy, Scotland, and Australia.

Artist Statement

The Colour Studies series marries traditional macro photography techniques with innovative layering and blending. This approach highlights nuanced details of surface, colour, and texture, creating unexpected and captivating images. The resulting works, with their distinctive and instantly recognizable style, blur the line between photography and fine art.

By embracing unpredictability, the Colour Studies push the boundaries of photographic possibilities. They celebrate patterns, hues, and textures that are often unfamiliar in traditional photography, inviting viewers to appreciate the intricate interplay of colour, light, and texture. These experimental images transform our perceptions and spark the imagination, showcasing the potential of the photographic medium.

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Bram Locknick (Oakville, ON)

Bio

Bram Locknick is an emerging artist and craftsperson from Essex County. His work delves into the relationship between truth and structures and how they shape human perception. With a foundation in philosophy from the University of Toronto (B.A.), followed by studies at Fleming College, his path shifted after an acquired brain injury led him to explore the world of craft. Enchanted by the technical and expressive potential of glass, he completed a Bachelor of Craft and Design at Sheridan College. Currently a resident artist at Harbourfront Centre in Toronto, Locknick’s practice investigates glass as a medium that bridges the artistic and the architectural. Passionate about arts education, he fosters creativity through teaching, advocating for participatory art and the importance of craft.

Artist Statement

I am a glass artist and sculptor whose practice explores the intersection of material and meaning. I work with clay, wax, and 3D printing to create initial forms, which I translate into glass through casting and mold-making. Conceptually, my work examines the relationship between people, truth, and the structures shaping our experiences. These structures are pervasive and integral to the human condition—sometimes clear and perceptible, other times elusive.

Glass, with its optical and architectural qualities, is an ideal medium for this exploration. Its ability to bend, distort, and reflect light mirrors human perception of ourselves and our surroundings. This medium’s duality—combining strength with fragility—offers a powerful analog for the complexities of truth and the frameworks defining reality. My sculptures echo human structures in form but are internally transformed and distorted, revealing the layered and multifaceted nature of understanding and experience.

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Billie MacFarland (Toronto, ON)

Bio

Billie MacFarland (b. 1993) is a material-focused visual artist based in Toronto. Their paintings on unprimed canvas transform ordinary moments into emotionally potent narratives. Their drive to make art comes from a desire to build meaningful connections with others.

Artist Statement

I look for importance and significance in brief moments and small movements. The way that we carry our bodies can signify a lot, and it's both readable and indecipherable at the same time. I want to draw the viewer's eye to the language of the body, which is something I've spent a lot of my life trying to interpret. 

Many of the images I paint are taken from strangers' family photographs. These moments feel familiar, but really they're not – it’s not my family, it’s not my real life. I wasn’t there, but when I look at these photos, seemingly inconsequential details will grab me and make me feel like I was there. That sensation of uncanny familiarity is what I’m trying to capture in my work. 

Cipher is part of a series I completed earlier this year focused on memory and nostalgia. For me, I don’t yearn for the past, but I’m curious to understand it. It’s not that the past was better; it’s that the past still feels like it’s full of secrets. That’s the allure of it. 

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Kaeli Macdonald (Toronto, ON)

Bio

Kaeli Macdonald is a Toronto-based*, interdisciplinary artist. 

She holds a BFA from OCAD University, where she completed a major in Sculpture/Installation. Incorporating elements of performance, video, photography, painting, found objects and clay, her practice is conceptual, emotional, and tactile. Kaeli employs a phenomenological process, layering image, gesture and object to explore identity, materiality and connection.  

Kaeli is a social worker/psychotherapist and a mother/stepmother to four children.

*Located on the traditional territories of the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Haudenosaunee, the Huron-Wendat and other Anishinaabeg peoples.

Artist Statement

Often involving multiples, repetition in my work is both rumination and meditation on everyday interactions with environment, self and other.

walking on eggshells/ worry bowls was made in response to an increasing sense of dread for, and in, the world. Over the past 2 years, at a series of communal tables, I made these 212 small bowls. Laid on the floor, as ground cover, they create a precarious, uneven landscape.  To traverse this field would be to contort oneself to avoid any misstep, or to risk crushing these delicate vessels under foot. You are invited to pick up one of these bowls, to worry the surface with your fingers, perhaps tracing the same path I took with my hands in the making of each sculpture. The visible cracks, bumps, and lumps in the body of each shape remind us of the tactile connection between human and object. 

These bowls are meant to be held and touched. Please feel free to pick up and interact with the work. 

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Mo Mouhie (Toronto, ON)

Bio

Mo Mouhie, a self-taught multidisciplinary artist born in 1991 in the vibrant heart of Casablanca, embarked on his artistic journey at the age of six exploring gouache, watercolour, charcoal, and pastel through reproducing family photos. 

In Mo's world, a rich tapestry of dualities unfolds—the delicate interplay between his former life as a trader and his deep-seated connection to art and poetry. His work encapsulates the tug-of-war between his longing for expansive horizons and the dislocation felt with each new chapter, threading a line that spans Europe, Morocco, and the United States.

As his practice evolved through various styles, he returned to the allure of figurative painting, delving into themes of identity and space. In these works, he immortalizes subjects engaged in the intimate rhythm of daily life, transforming fleeting moments into lasting impressions. 

Now residing and working in Toronto, Canada, Mo continues to push the boundaries of his creativity, crafting visual poetry that resonates with the essence of human experience.

Artist Statement

In this series of paintings, I explore the quiet complexity of solitude and self-reflection, capturing a single figure in intimate, sparse interiors. Through carefully chosen postures and subdued, earthy tones, the works delve into the emotional layers of solitude, revealing moments of introspection, vulnerability, and resilience.

In each painting, the female figure stands in different stances that convey a sense of inward focus. The presence of organic details adds life to the otherwise minimalistic spaces, softening the starkness of the rooms and imbuing each scene with warmth and intimacy. Ultimately this series of paintings captures the beauty in stillness, celebrating the layered experience of solitude and the quiet power of self-discovery.

The series is titled Bedroom Confidentials.

The settings are inspired from my personal environment. All the paintings are made using oil paint.

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William Peltier (Ancaster, ON)

Bio

William Peltier was born in Windsor, Ontario, Canada in 1961 and currently resides in Hamilton, Ontario. He is both a music composer and visual artist. His music has been performed in cities such as Toronto, Kitchener-Waterloo, Hamilton, Ottawa, Guelph, Quebec, Montreal, Victoria, New York, Amsterdam, Berlin, Prishtina, Havana, and Buenos Aires. Since 2020, Peltier’s primary focus has been in the visual arts. In the past year, he participated in the Hamilton Plein Air Festival, garnering an honourable mention and his work was selected for the Colour and Form Society Exhibition in Toronto, In the summer of 2026, Peltier will embark on his first solo exhibition at the Art Gallery of Bancroft. His practice focuses on depictions of nature with an intense forensic eye. These enigmatic drawings contain a vibrancy of colours, textures, and subtleties that invite the viewer to engage in a uniquely intimate world.

Artist Statement

Thinking of our most memorable experiences with nature, we may recollect moments where we have taken a step back to observe vast, grandiose landscapes with a sense of awe. Conversely, I take a few steps forward to view the intricacies of nature with an intensely forensic eye. In doing this, I create depictions of nature that are rich with complex textures, colours, and subtleties. Such details invite the viewer to embark on an intimate, ‘slow looking’ journey. I find infinite fascination with this small world so close to the ground, so close to us. 

These enigmatic drawings, which are primarily created using archival coloured pencils on paper, often demonstrate the intrinsic connections between nature and humanity. Themes I may explore include the wonderment of life, survival's battle scars, death and decay, and the symbiotic relationships between life and death / order and chaos.

I often employ an ‘allover’ technique where all the details of the work have equal importance, obscuring the foreground-background relationship and promoting a heightened awareness of the many layers of imagery. It also introduces an element of ambiguity where the viewer’s experience of the work may not be cohesive and knowable.

“We don't know why we are here. 

We don't know where we are going. 

We have the intellect to try to find out, but we cannot. 

It's quite desperate."

                                            - Anselm Kiefer

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Fabrizio Sclocco (Toronto, ON)

Bio

Fabrizio Sclocco is an Italian contemporary figurative artist born in Pescara, Italy in 1989. He moved to Toronto in 2012, establishing himself as an Artist and Set Designer in the film industry. Recently, Fabrizio’s work was selected for a collaboration with the Art Gallery of Ontario.

Artist Statement

Fabrizio Sclocco delves into the fluid landscapes of identity, movement, and transformation, exploring the spaces within us that remain unseen yet deeply felt. His work embraces genderless forms, capturing the subtleties of vulnerability and strength that reside in each of us. Inspired by his heritage and the dynamics of social interaction, he blends figurative painting with his background in architecture and set design to craft compositions that transcend labels and reflect an honest self. Through each piece, he invites viewers to confront societal constructs and uncover their own narratives, finding empowerment in authenticity and the courage to embrace a more nuanced, inclusive humanity.

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Amber Smith-Quail (Toronto, ON)

Bio

My name is Amber Quail and I’ve been a visual artist for as long as I can remember. My practice is based out of Toronto and South Algonquin. I am an off-reserve member of Alderville First Nation; my father was Anishinaabe, and my mother was a descendent of settlers from Scotland and England.

From earliest memories, I can recall the presence of household tension between two opposing ways of knowing and being. As a young one I felt both included and excluded from Indigenous and Western culture. These ancestries have deeply influenced my worldview personally and artistically.

Today my works are a blend of traditional and contemporary methodologies and often include beadwork, paint, and found/salvaged items. When reflecting on my lifelong artistic journey I recognize a common thread of relationship, blood memory, and identity connecting the pieces together.

Artist Statement

My work is a blend of traditional and contemporary Indigenous art, incorporating iconography, personal artifacts, and storytelling.

In the piece LANDBACK, a vintage painting from my own childhood home is transformed, via the addition of a beaded medallion to deliver a new message. The placement of traditional beadwork rendered in a contemporary style disrupts a popular theme in North American art: the myth of unoccupied land. It responds to the dark side of terra nullius and the theft of ancestral lands. The work is visual expression of truth, reclamation, and resilience.

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Lucia Volker (Victoria, BC)

Bio

Lucia Volker is an interdisciplinary artist and designer who explores abstraction using various techniques in painting, printmaking and site-specific mixed media installations. Lucia has developed a vast body of work shown in galleries across the United States and Canada, including ZINC Contemporary in Seattle, Moore Art Project in Portland and Art Access in Salt Lake City. Select residencies include Assets for Artists at MASS MoCA, The Ou Gallery, and Leña Artist Research and Residency Centre on Galiano Island. In 2023 she collaborated with the City of Victoria for the downtown Art-in-Kisok public art initiative. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Art in Printmaking from the University of Utah in 2012 and a Diploma of Interior Design from Pacific Design Academy in 2024. She grew up in Salt Lake City, UT, and currently lives and works in Victoria, BC.

Artist Statement

I explore colour, line and pattern by responding intuitively to the materials and composition as the piece develops. By focusing on formal elements of design at the core, I use repetitive marks and shapes in a variety of mediums to settle into a meditative creative process, which is reflected back to the viewer, often using repeating imagery. Sometimes I want to create a sense of tension through color or line, other times I want the work to feel vastly open and atmospheric by letting the marks speak for themselves. My background in printmaking continues to inform my approach to artmaking by working in layers, thinking about opacity and transparency, and how the materials relate back to the specific narrative of each piece. I move freely between painting, drawing, collage and installation, and I find new possibilities for mark-making within each material and process.

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Noel Yardley (Toronto, ON)

Bio

Noel Yardley is a ceramic artist based in Toronto. He studied at Nelson Mandela University in South Africa, graduating in 1998. In his ceramic work, Yardley applies experimental ceramic techniques, pop art culture influences to produce sculptural pieces. He often draws inspiration from intricate forms and patterns found in nature, from the shape of landscapes, the fluidity of water carving through rock to the subtle, repetitive patterns of water or wind moving over sand. He has exhibited work at the Design Indaba (Cape Town), 100% Design (London) and Object en Maison (Paris). Yardley is in private collections in South Africa, Germany, Italy, the USA and Canada. Currently, Yardley practices from a studio located in the East End of Toronto.

Artist Statement

My artwork is inspired by my surroundings and pop art. My imagination is ignited by the intricate geomorphic forms and patterns found in nature. I draw from the dynamic forces that shape our landscapes, from the fluidity of water carving through rock to the subtle, repetitive patterns of growth and erosion. Through a dialogue with these elemental forms, I explore the complex interplay between the natural world and human perception. The pop art movement informs my use of colours and images. I find that everyday objects can be a source of creative expression and push me to approach clay in new and inventive ways.

I use a variety of techniques like throwing, hand building, sculpting sometimes cutting or deconstructing to get the desired effect. I like to push the boundaries of what clay can do, as this opens up new possibilities.

I am heavily inspired by ceramic artists like Peter Voulkos for his trailblazing sculptural pieces, often cutting and building as he goes along. I admire Dame Lucie Rie and Ruth Duckworth for their intricately thrown forms and expressive use of glazing chemistry and texture. Lastly, Magdalene Odondo, for her unique hand-building skills, particularly how her pieces appear deceptively simple and yet convey complexity and depth.

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Timothy Bichard (Toronto, ON)

Bio

Timothy is an artist practicing in Toronto, Canada.

Timothy's practice explores concepts of identity and sexuality. His work primarily uses manipulated data (point cloud scans) of lovers, friends, landscapes and textures.

Artist Statement

Come to bed explores concepts of identity, body and form in the digital age. Our chosen family, friend networks,and lovers now shift between the digital and the physical. 

They are collages of data, identity, time and space.This project uses manipulated data (3d point cloud scans) of friends, colleagues and lovers that have been overlaid, fragmented and reassembled. 

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Chelsea Brant (Brantford, ON)

Bio

Chelsea Brant (she/her) is a multidisciplinary artist and independent curator, currently teaching drawing at Sheridan College in Oakville, and Independent Studio Practice at Dundas Valley School of Art in Dundas. Brant received a BFA Honors degree from the University of Guelph, and an MFA from the University of Saskatchewan. She has worked for several arts organizations within administrative roles, curatorial assistantships as well as program coordination positions and has served on several arts boards, including her most recent role with Nuit Blanche YXE Festival Board of Directors. Brant’s artistic work has been exhibited locally, nationally, and internationally with her most recent solo exhibition presented at The Studio in Saskatoon, SK.

Artist Statement

As a mixed-race Mohawk and German female oscillating between rural and city environments, my work often contemplates present moments and my sense of belonging within spaces and experiences. Working between a multidisciplinary art practice, independent curation, and education in the arts, my work reflects on and engages with these lived-experiences, vicarious recounters, intimate moments, and memory. I work with extracted image fragments from personal and found photographs and play with both reductive and collective collage approaches to compile narratives in the work I make, presenting visual moments in a sort of blended “story-quilt”. Using fragmentation and assemblage of place, time, and space within one picture plane, these artworks present the passing of time as well as themes of joy and trauma simultaneously. Visuals are often taken from old family photographs, life cycles of plants, and imagery of idyllic travel destinations, meaning the subject matter is often diverse but the throughlines between series are strewn together with shared navigations of relationships and being.

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Omar Chris Canales-Cisneros (Barrie, ON)

Bio

Omar Chris Canales-Cisneros is an artist of Salvadorian descent. He graduated with distinctions from OCAD U in May 2023, majoring in drawing and painting with a minor in sculpture and installation. He was the recipient of both the Mrs. W.O. Forsyth Award and the Urquhart Memorial Scholarship. He has Exhibited at TOAF, the art gallery of Mississauga, and the billboards of Dundas Square. As a transman, his work explores identity through heritage, sexuality, and gender. Implementing the artistic methodology of decreation he burns materials that are representative of prejudicial ideologies and incorporating the resulting ashes as pigment for hand-mulled oil paint. His most recent work combines this technique with canvases fabricated from Salvadorian textiles, dissecting themes of family dynamics in relation to his identity and has translucent elements to allow the textiles to come through, allowing their vibrancy to contrast the somber monochromatic palette of the ash paint.

Artist Statement

This body of work explores themes of gathering and familial bonds, with particular emphasis on the significance of shared spaces and traditions. The ashes used in this series were sourced from the family fire pit a place of communal gathering— adding a layer of meaning derived from the setting itself. It depicts three generations are connected through the intimate act of braiding each other's hair. This tradition is one I felt I had undermined during my transition. I had distanced myself from many aspects of my heritage, struggling to reconcile the values tied to it with my experience of gender and identity. In cutting my hair for gender-affirming reasons, I believed I was severing ties with a practice that had long been a symbol of connection to my family and culture.

This painting, therefore, functions as an act of reconciliation, a re-engagement with cultural practices. The title, Olga…Olga…Omar, encapsulates this reclamation. It references a name I once sought to distance myself from; Repeating the name twice, to honor the women who came before me. The name "Omar" follows as the name I have chosen to carry forward, transforming and deepening my respect for the cultural lineage that it represents.

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