Scarborough Arts Big Art Book 9: Chrysalis

Big Art Book: Chrysalis © Scarborough Arts 2023

All pieces herein are copyright © 2023 of their respective authors and creators. No pieces in this book are to be reproduced or sold commercially.

No part of this book may be reproduced, downloaded, or reprinted in any form or used in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means without the prior written permission by the publisher.

Front Cover Image by: Mia Kitty

Book Design by: Nadira Narine

Curated by: Faith Rajasingham

Book Text by: Emily Peltier and Faith Rajasingham

Edited by: Emily Peltier and Faith Rajasingham

Published by Scarborough Arts

1859 Kingston Road

Scarborough, ON, M1N 1T3

www.scarborougharts.com

We acknowledge the City of Toronto, Ontario Arts Council, Delta Downsview Bingo & Gaming, and Cedar Ridge Creative Centre in making our Annual Juried Exhibition a possibility each year. We are delighted to have been able to showcase the work of talented artists in our community with your support!

BIG ART BOOK: Issue 9 Chrysalis

AFRICAN ANCESTRAL ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Scarborough Arts acknowledges all Treaty peoples – including those who came here as settlers – as migrants either in this generation or in generations past - and those of us who came here involuntarily, particularly those brought to these lands as a result of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and Slavery. We pay tribute to those ancestors of African origin and descent. We as an organization hold ourselves accountable to, and encourage our white and non-Black members of our community to advocate for, learn about, and immediately end anti-Black racism and oppression in any form. Scarborough Arts stands in solidarity specifically with our Black community members, and Black people around the world.

Art can be a powerful tool for change, but so too does there need to be evident societal change on the parts of non-Black and white people. Ways for white and non-Black people to elicit change is to commit to ending anti-Black racism and racism on the personal and institutional level.

We implore you to support the overall wellbeing, success, and lives of Black people and communities, always. In Scarborough and the GTA specifically, there are a multitude of tools and resources that can be accessed to continue this necessary work. Please see our website for some resources, organizations to support, and donation options.

LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The land in which Scarborough Arts is located has been the home of Indigenous people and Nations long before colonial documentation of time and is specifically the land of the Wendat, Anishnabek, Mississaugas of the Credit, and the Haudenosaunee. The territory of what is known today as Toronto is under the One Dish, One Spoon Wampum belt, a peace treaty between the Haudenosaunee and the Anishinaabek, and is a mutual agreement between nations for sharing land and resources. The territories that encompass Toronto, as well, are under a number of Treaties including Treaty 13, and in Scarborough specifically the Williams Treaties. There have been many Indigenous names and words associated with this place, and today, Scarborough is home to a multitude of Indigenous people, languages, and cultures from around the world.

We as an organization are composed of people from various walks of life. All of us at Scarborough Arts encourage you to support and advocate for Indigenous people and communities, everywhere. In Canada, specifically, this can look like many things; such as actively returning land, rejecting government legislation that violates the rights of First Nations, Inuit, and Metis people, denouncing colonial histories within institutions, ending violence against Indigenous women, Two-Spirit, and girls, donating money to Indigenous youth groups, and any actions that genuinely support the wellbeing and success of Indigenous people, everywhere.

FOREWORD

Emily Peltier, Scarborough Arts Program Manager, AJE Coordinator

Faith Rajasingham, Scarborough Arts, Program Coordinator, AJE Coordinator and Curator

Scarborough Arts is honoured to present our 37th Annual Juried Exhibition (AJE) and Big Art Book 9. We would like to acknowledge previous Scarborough Arts staff, Kyle Jarencio and Issaq Ahmed, for laying the groundwork for this year’s theme: Chrysalis. Last year we asked you “as individuals and as community members to find new forms of resilience.” This year, we took it one step further and asked you, as artists and community members, “what happens next?” What happens to us in moments of resilience and transformation? How do we navigate the in-betweenness of transformation? As these moments of change impact our relationships with our environment, others, ourselves, and even our perceptions of time, what does liminality, weirdness, and transmutation look like for you?

Even as we move out of world-wide lock-down regulations and legislations, communities in Scarborough are still faced with issues like food insecurity, housing crisis, widening wage gaps, and more. In spite, and maybe because of this, our community continues to come together as co-collaborators, philosophers, and architects of Scarborough - in a space where we can express our own individual and communal Chrysalis.

The 37th Annual Juried Exhibition and Big Art Book 9 would not be possible without the generous support and tireless work of Scarborough Arts’ staff and jurors - Yolanda T. Marshall and Esmond Lee. We would like to thank our fantastic production team, including: Emily Peltier (SA Program Manager, AJE Coordinator), Faith Rajasingham (SA Program Coordinator, AJE Coordinator and Curator), Amanda Singh (SA Administrations and Operations Coordinator), Derek Spooner (SA Executive Director), and Sarah Alinia Ziazi (SA Marketing and Communications Coordinator). We would also like to thank Cedar Ridge Creative Centre for generously hosting the exhibit. Thank you to the fantastic creatives who created a great ambience at the Exhibit opening: Gnanushan Krishnapillai (DJ), Thevya Balendran (DJ), Nithursan Elamuhilan (Photographer), and Vinushan’s Bakery (Catering). And finally, our immense gratitude to our volunteers for helping us put together a magical day - Tim Limsana, Oliviana Cinco, Jordan Sook, Sofia Guevara, Faizaan Khan, Franny Fu, Juliana Lee, Hayden Lee, and Angela Bo-Chan.

THE JURORS

Visual Art

Esmond Lee is an artist, researcher, and architect based in Scarborough. Lee explores long-term, intergenerational experiences of migration in peripheral and in-between spaces. He holds a Master of Architecture and is pursuing a Doctorate in Critical Human Geography. His recent works include two public art installations for Nuit Blanche Toronto in Scarborough and one at Malvern Town Centre for CONTACT Photography Festival.

Writing

Yolanda T. Marshall is a Guyanese-born Canadian author. In 2015, after becoming a mom, Yolanda was inspired to write her first children’s book, Keman’s First Carnival. Yolanda is also the author of, A Piece of Black Cake for Santa, Sweet Sorrel Stand, C is for Carnival and one of CBC’s best Canadian picture books of 2020 - My Soca Birthday Party: with Jollof Rice and Steel Pans.

Esmond Lee

Yolanda T. Marshall

AWARD WINNERS

Annual Juried Exhibition 2022 First Place Winner for Visual Art

Joshua Soodeen

Super Snow-Man: super stressed, man

Annual Juried Exhibition 2022 Second Place Winner for Visual Art

Ujwal Mantha

The Patchwork House of Night

Annual Juried Exhibition 2022 First Place Winner for Writing

Teresa Hall

Never Give Up Hope

Annual Juried Exhibition 2022 Second Place Winner for Writing

Tanya Adèle Koehnke

Butterfly Flight

2022 Scarborough Arts Staff Pick Winners

Mia Kitty

What did you see

Anastasia Meicholas

Transitions

My name is Anastasia Meicholas, a self-taught artist living in Toronto. I predominantly work with acrylics on canvas, alternating between abstraction and representation and, on occasion, incorporating mixed media. My exotic colour palette and subjects are strongly influenced by my Bahamian heritage where there was constant sunshine, and the bright blue ocean was never far away. The pieces I create are drawn from inspiration, experiences and lessons learned, sprinkled with influences from the land of my birth. The miles of forests and the wilderness of my former home in Fort McMurray, Alberta, have also had a strong influence on the direction of my work.

Art has always been my outlet to cope with the stress and uncertainties of everyday life. At the same time, I use art to express some of my deepest joys. Art provides me with a safe and comfortable place to express myself. As I am constantly trying to interpret my world, exploring different ways of presenting my observations and interpretations, I don’t limit myself to one medium, one style or a single process, I am constantly evolving.

If anyone takes the time to peruse my work and pauses long enough to be stirred in some way, to wonder, to question, to simply feel… then I have succeeded in my work as an artist.

Andria Keen

Seeds

Artist Biography

Andria Keen (she/her) is completing her BFA in cross-disciplinary Life Studies at OCADU, in Tkaronto. Her works engage with themes of temporality, cyclicality, inclusion, and the natural world. Working across various mediums: painting, photogrammetry, analog and digital collage, clay, bronze, and mixed media sculpture, Andria utilizes abstraction, figuration, and narrative themes to engage us in questioning our place in relation to both deep and future Time, as well as ourselves.

Andria returned to the pursuit of studio work following over a decade dedicated to raising her children. For more of her work, visit www.andria-keen.format.com, https://www.instagram.com/andriakeen/?hl=en.

Artist Statement

Seed was made just prior to the pandemic’s start in Canada. It was an exploration of acrylic mediums that focused on the coverage and exposure of canvas as well as the impacts of matte versus glossy and flat versus sculptural application. Thematically it was also an exploration of dualities, light versus dark, above and below, within and without. I was thinking about the miasma of creation, the potency of possibility within a seed, and within a moment.

The present moment, the seed of every choice we make, holds all that came before and all the possibilities of what is to come. In my opinion, as such, it in its essence will always hold hope yet will be forever elusive for enacting any change, consequence or growth, it is lost to the movements and shadows of time. The same way consciousness of growth is most clearly understood through time, time before the Chrysalis, and time after. The time within liminality, within the seed or miasma, holds the most duality for it is in the moment of reaction and response rather than result.

Anupa Perera

Beginnings

Artist Biography

Anupa Khemadasa is a Sri Lankan - Canadian interdisciplinary artist inspired by both Sri Lankan and Western creative traditions, whose practice spans visual arts, community engagement, music performance and cybernetics. Socio-cultural issues and personal histories are at the core of her artistic practice. She has performed and exhibited work in Asia, Europe, Canada and the US. She is the co-founder of the music ensemble Tangled, and the arts collective‘ Warm Up To Me ‘.

Artist Statement

“Beginnings” explores the beauty and calamity of change. Each element of the painting captures this duality. The blue background is a rough and motive sea - disturbed into darker blues by the creatures that move through it. Yet that same blue is the calm colour of space and freedom. Abstracted figures dominate the scene: flying dragons, eagles preying on snakes, but also quieter creatures - mollusks and amoeba - hints at the potential of evolution. Both the eagle and the dragon are nascent . Who knows what they could become?

At first glance, the colours are joyfully vibrant, but they also tell of struggle. In the warm colours, there is the burning of birth, claret blood diffusing through water. These liquids - rich with salt and pain are the beginnings and the substances of life. There are also the pinker colours of sunrise, the juices of ripe fruit, the green of lush, underwater grasses. The texture of the work reveals the process of its creation. There are visible layers of acrylic, imperfectly smoothed, brush strokes around smaller details and thick, poured paint that has dried into islands of tangible texture. Change is abstraction. Transformation resists being captured in a clearly interpretable image. But if we do hold it still for a moment, in all its weirdness, we see all the wonders and terrors it has to offer

Che Ree Kwon

Street View No.1-2

Artist Biography

Che Ree Kwon is a visual artist and has a passion for contemporary art. She was born and raised in South Korea where she majored in painting and graduated with a master’s degree. She has been working as a curator in South Korea and now she lives and works in Toronto after immigrating to Canada. She works with shape, colour, and space both in a traditional way and via digital media. Most of her hand-painted artworks are oil colours, acrylic colours, and mixed media on canvases, wood panels, and papers. As an artist from Scarborough, she hopes to share her artistic journey, connect with other artists for the vision of the exhibition, and inspire the visitors through the exhibition.

Artist Statement

The emotions from the memories seem to stay for a moment and disappear so I tried to express my emotions on a canvas to remember what I was feeling during that moment. During the pandemic, I have started to contain my memories of the city and natural scenery seen from a distance on my painting. The sceneries passing by me always give me a happy expectation that something new and enjoyable will happen. Overgrown plants, secluded parks, and empty playgrounds seem to establish a small wish for a peaceful growth. The impression of the light and color in the scenery becomes a motive for me to design my new world that I want to explore. I hope to share my memories and feelings and take you to the world filtered by my imagination.

My paintings contain the stories of traveling between my memories and imaginations. It also contains the message of wishing that various living things, cultures, and values in our society all harmonize just as everything that blooms in nature is different but harmonious. It is more like looking into the world through my own filter and finding the beauty in this puzzled world in my own way.

Chow Yik Shun

endlessness

Artist Biography

Hello, I’m from Hong Kong and I moved to Toronto on September 20, 2022. Since I’ve always sought to break the everyday routine, there isn’t one particular creative medium that I use. This time, the artwork is a performance piece that breaks the daily routine by the routine itself. This also includes the time and the place. Although I was aware that performance art was not an accepted form for the open call for Scarborough art, I nevertheless applied. Since this piece is still a part of the work when it is not performed, I hope it will be accepted.

Artist Statement

Read a newspaper while I’m alive. Relive the experience while I can still remember.

Apple daily, a Hong Kong newspaper. It was published on June 24, 2021. This was also the last day of the publisher Apple Daily before shutdown. The reason for the closure was because it couldn’t survive in Hong Kong. I come here for the same reason. Similar sounds, different places, repeat the same experience.

Reading loud the newspaper that remain on the date it was published. Until now the value still exists, surpassing the function of newspapers to reflect facts. Through this performance art which break down language, time and place in a blank space. We finally understand the witness of history is a painful process of growth, it should be more painful beyond imagination.

Chris Jordan Toquero Consul

inthepalms

Artist Biography

Chris Jordan Toquero Consul is a mixed media artist currently living and working in Toronto, ON. Formally, he carries his Bachelor of Arts in Specialized Honours in Kinesiology but he has always had a love of art and creative expression. Working in trades, he uses his life experiences as teachers to help inspire ideas in his works. He is also inspired by the natural world and human anatomy and describes his work as more expressive than realistic.

Artist Statement

Sometimes, going into the depths of your forest is necessary for healing. Healing is not linear and sometimes you feel stuck in a dark space but you can feel the leaves of change. This piece was created during a time of reflection with the idea of change being “in the palms” of your hands and going into the leaves of rebirth.

Dana Sewell

BlueBird

Artist Biography

Dana M. Sewell is a visual artist, designer, and art facilitator/educator. She has expressed her passion for creativity at a very early age. Although educated in fine arts, she had pursued a career in graphic and multimedia design. Art, however, has remained her life-long passion and a part of a never-ending journey into exploring, experimenting, and discovering. Dana’s fascination with vivid, vibrant, and highly intense colour, and bold expressive brush strokes is prominent in her art. In recent years she is focusing on experimenting with intuitive self-expressive painting as well as facilitating art activities with elder adults.

Artist Statement

In order to take care of our mind, body and soul, we often turn to nature for comfort. Nature, indeed, has helped us tremendously to cope with isolation and loneliness during pandemic lockdowns. Now it’s time for reflection, gratitude, new vision… time to look forward with hope. The new gained empowerment comes from the moment of realization that we are stronger that we give ourselves credit for. “What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger” isn’t cliché anymore…

PRETTY AND LYRICAL IN PURPLE

Life feels abundant when you’re immersed in purple

It’s pretty, it’s creative and it’s lyrical

The story of the lady and her cat comes full circle

Be wary and be wise to take note of the lyrics they wrote!

The water turns purple as I wash my hands

As for my magical cat, she understands the bitter lyrics we wrote all winter long Our spirits are lighter now; we sing a happier song

See the immortalized splashing of purple tears as she and her cat recall the painful years

Feel the painter’s passion in the wake of her obsession

They survived a gloomy winter of disenchantment

It had been a season of unprecedented discontentment

Spring saw the lady steadily taking control of her life

She embraced change and was okay with being no-body’s wife

See how pretty and lyrical life is with purple Our story had come full circle

Be wary and be wise and dare to get insight into the esoteric lyrics we write!

Till deep into the frenzied spring season, the lady painted

Till deep into the season, in purple fantasia, she related

She broke free from the chains and she was carefree

Wow! Her cat was so majestic in her purple fantasy!

Denise Kemp

PRETTY AND LYRICAL IN PURPLE

Artist Biography

Denise enjoys writing and sharing her stories. She is from Cape Town, South Africa and immigrated to Canada in 2012. She loves spending time with her family and is happily employed at the Toronto Public Library.

Artist Statement

This piece was inspired by a painting by my oldest sister, Daphne. Her painting depicts a large tabby cat on a predominantly purple background. There are musical notes and lyrics and a large purple flower surrounding the cat. Daphne is a painter and she is a quirky, artistic soul. I love it! I love her sense of style for both home décor and fashion. I think life with art is quirky and pretty and lyrical…just like the colour purple. Art is liberating.

Isabelle Sain

When The World Was Tired

Artist Biography

Isabelle Sain is an artist whose work is an ongoing sensory experience that explores the relationships between body and space. Her work is grounded in establishing connections and events that define shared experiences. She represents the tactility of these experiences through experimental wearable objects, textiles and interactive sculptures as a way to understand human interaction within the physical, political, social, and spiritual environment. Isabelle obtained her BFA in textiles and fashion at NSCAD University. Isabelle’s work has been exhibited in many cities, and she has also conducted research projects investigating the future of fashion with KEA University, and collaborated with many organizations.

Artist Statement

Does a blanket have the capacity to absorb and protect vulnerability? Can the universality of a blanket manifest our collective responsibility to one another? We are living in a world facing multiple humanitarian crises further compounded with environmental crises, all of which are the result of a globalized kleptocracy that has its roots in a racialized colonialist history. With such divergent expressions within the world, how can we move forward as a “community of shared destiny”? My intention for this project is to create an active sculpture where intimacy is interrupted through the transformation of the domestic ritual of wrapping oneself in a blanket into a vast public space. Reimagining the context of the blanket beyond its intended use discloses details of the joys and pains of human experience and acknowledges humanity’s fragility. This active public sculpture calls for a moment to recognize the collective responsibility for the people under our blanket.

2022 Annual Juried Exhibition First Place Winner for Visual Art

Joshua Sooden

Super Snow-Man: super stressed, man

Artist Biography

My name is Joshua Soodeen and I am a multi-disciplinary artist, who was born and raised in Scarborough, Ontario. I specialize in visual artistic mediums such as graphic design, illustration, and painting. As a child, I would play in the snow with my friends where we would build things (including snowmen). Every year they would be destroyed by older children from the nearby middle school. Instead of ending the cycle of destruction, I continued the tradition with younger children who built snowmen, forts, and snow angels. As an adult, I would realize that this experience was a microcosmic representation of what it meant to come of age as a first-generation Black artist growing up in Scarborough’s low-income communities, dealing with limited resources and lack of access. The story of Super Snow-Man is one that inspires children to continue to be creative despite adversity and to end cycles of trauma, through bravery. The character defends a community built through creativity against those who wish to destroy it by inspiring and releasing the inner child within.

Artist Statement

The last few years have been difficult for most people. I wanted to illustrate something that not only represented how I feel but also something to remind me on how to handle those feelings. Super Snow-Man is a character born of trying times and even though he breaks a sweat he never loses his cool.

In 2020, I began developing the character of Super Snow-Man with the hopes of creating a graphic novel. Comic books and graphic novels always provided a means of escape for me as a child growing up. They encouraged me to be creative and taught me valuable lessons. My goal as an artist boils down to inspiring young people the way so many artists inspired me. It would have truly meant the world to me to see someone from my community, who looked like me, create something with me in mind.

Ken Chan

La Paloma

Artist Biography

A visual artist active in Scarborough for a decade. His artwork has been selected for Scarborough Juried Exhibition, members exhibition, and Big Art Book multiple times.

Artist Statement

The art depicts an image of a dove emerging from a patch of swirling clouds. Its flying posture adds some energy and dynamics to otherwise tame fall scenery. A jumble of twisting clouds metamorphosing into a dove, a symbol of harmony, reflects the majesty of transforming disarray into order, confusion into logic. Our world is frequently bombarded with contradictory information, and often driven by accidental events. Our ability of separating the wheat from the chaff, and rearranging random into pattern in our daily life is critical for us to navigate through the chaotic world safely and successfully.

Kayla Yager Being Alone

Artist Biography

Kyla is a Toronto based, New Orleans bred Visual Artist with a passion for painting, portraying emotions and mindsets through her work. Struggling with ADHD and Mental Health, Kyla uses these as a tool to create her compositions. As her thoughts move a mile a minute, so does her paint brush. Use of hyper-detail, layering, and hidden imagery within her work tricks the eye into multiple perspectives, leading each and every viewer to see something different depending on how they look at it. Ultimately, Kyla hopes to inspire neurodivergent individuals to utilize their disabilities as positive and unique traits, rather than as setbacks in life.

Artist Statement

“Being Alone” began as a cry for help in a lonely state of mind. Underneath the many details of this piece, vulnerable statements were written with a paint brush, then repeatedly sprayed away with water. This painting was left uncompleted for months, as it was symbolic towards my unresolved mental struggle between the fear of being alone versus the joy of my solitude. I was only able to finish this painting once I started to enjoy my time alone after ending toxic relationships in both my work and personal life. My resilience is what has brought me here today with this finished piece. You may find remnants from my past hidden within the textures of this piece, but they are visible in order to portray the journey that navigated me through that tough state of mind. Sometimes that process of transformation requires taking a step back, making hard choices, and finishing something you started.

For Kal-El My fortress is...

Faded blue jeans worn to threads at the knees, Bare feet, wet by grass soaked by the dawn. Apple blossom rain.

A house of Wonder Woman comics and Jane Austen novels, Where the bedroom door opens every time the front door slams. My father’s eyes looking back at me in the mirror.

Being afraid--but stronger today than I was yesterday. A broken pen, ink staining my favourite leather backpack.

Words not yet written on the pages of a new spiral bound dollar store notebook, With a pink tulip on the cover.

Liza Hazelwood

For Kal-El

Artist Biography

Lisa Hazelwood was born and raised in Scarborough, ON. When not working, writing. knitting or hanging out with her kids, she can be found looking for the perfect book at the bookstore or local library.

Artist Statement

To me a chrysalis is safety, sanctuary. And I’m a nerd, so I immediately thought of Superman. This poem is my Fortress of Solitude. Kal-El is Superman’s name on Krypton. Sorry for explaining, but not everyone knows that.

Martin Vuong

Chasing The Dragon

Artist biography

Martin Vuong is an emerging artist based in Ottawa who specializes in oil painting portraits. He is a graduate from the University of Ottawa with a Bachelor of Fine Arts. His work has been displayed at Wallack’s Gallery (2022) and Gallery 115 (2019) with private collections in Ottawa, Calgary, and Vietnam. He is the recipient of the University of Ottawa’s Art Dean Paradigm Prize (2019). During his time as an undergrad student, Vuong has had the opportunity to be a juror and curate the Inter_NoUS exhibition at the University of Ottawa (2019).

Artist statement

Martin Vuong is an emerging artist based in Ottawa who specializes in oil painting portraits. His works examine the relationships of his heritage and community. In exploring this area, Vuong references history, language, and culture humanizing these concepts with personal memories and figures. By pairing these abstract concepts with concrete figures, Vuong visually narrates stories that have long gone unheard. In order to capture such concepts in his surreal portraits, Vuong uses found images from various moments in time, along with written or spoken historic accounts.

Vuong is a graduate from the University of Ottawa with a Bachelor of Fine Arts. His work has been displayed at Wallack’s Gallery (2022) and Gallery 115 (2019) with private collections in Ottawa and Calgary. He is the recipient of the University of Ottawa’s Art Dean Paradigm Prize (2019). During his time as an undergrad student, Vuong has had the opportunity to be a juror and curate the Inter_NoUS exhibition at the University of Ottawa (2019).

2022 Annual Juried Exhibition Staff Pick

Mia Kitty

What did you see

Artist Biography

Toronto based Chinese Artists, OCAD Drawing&Painting Student. Works are mostly centered on exploring the threshold and transformation of reality and fantasy.

Artist Statement

I would characterize this work as the second “futurism” dimension. The evolution of life is constantly accelerating, from having life functions to complex life to intelligent energy, and no one can predict how fast artificial intelligence will morph into human symbiosis in the future. This work shows that when an AI breaks through the critical point of awakening, it may only take a few seconds to decipher the mysteries of the universe, and human technology and ethics will no longer be the chrysalis of AI.

Getting the poison out/Antidote

(Dec 10th 2020)

Controlling without force; emotionally manipulative, abusing innocent trust; false passive behaviour to make you feel guilt and invalidation. Misrepresenting your words, your truth, and your pain. Cowarding away angrily when you are growing resistant; not going to listen without burning you some more.

You learn to let yourself be, to be okay with what you used to hide, the thing thought to be weakness but is only the protective and changing human inside.

The pain persists, and it might feel like self betrayal when even with the poison stopped, you mourn and cry and still feel the pain and fear.

Who you were all along you finally show to yourself. Because that is what you had hoped for, wished for and needed. You wished for someone to show you the love and care you shared always, and now you allow yourself to show unconditional love inwards.

Tolerance and patience to what heals and not what poisons.

The sly venomous sickness of a person, who is only human too, has been sent away and gone for a while. The poison lessens, but the mind forgets slower. The poison lessens and you are freer, but the pain is still too accessible.

You grow bigger than the pain and build renewed loves and visions. The ones around you hurt less too. The memory is still there, as both poison and antidote. And you feel waves of pain and healing, knowing it must be worth feeling, to have grown so much.

To beg for support from false friends, endure silence and indifference as you crumble and fight to stand, but continue to be warm, hopeful and hold out your hand. To endure such a backhanded act as you grow kinder, will not be your loss, but the poisoner’s reminder that you, and the ones around you have grown resistant, closer and wiser.

Nevita Sankar

Get the poison out

Artist Biography

Nevita is a multidisciplinary artist based in Scarborough. She works in drawing, painting, film, photography, sculpture, writing and more. These different mediums and forms of working are sometimes brought together into multimedia pieces. With interests in both the sciences and the arts, there is no limit to the direction in which her work can go.

Artist Statement

This piece was written during the beginning of the pandemic, which also happened to be at the start of the tail end of many other large life events that had just occurred. This was written all at once, without an idea of where it was going, just knowing I wanted to write and clear my mind. I was speaking to myself in a way, but also just speaking to nothing or no one in particular; or to everything at once. Looking back at this piece now, there is much I had forgotten, it was like reading it for the first time. Presently my mindset is mostly in a very different place, things feel different and I feel I have grown exponentially larger than that moment. And yet it is seeing through the past until now, and these moments before transformation, that I can fully appreciate the full scope of change and growth that has been happening so steadily until now. So many small moments like this, have served to completely transform my world, and will likely continue that way. Everyone is capable of change, but it is not a result, it is a beautiful ongoing process.

Prof. Oliver Tiura

PLETHORAE

Artist Biography

I’m am a former Professor, a senior Canadian sculptor of Finnish origin. To date I’ve had over 75 one man and group exhibitions in a variety of countries including Mexico, France, Italy, Switzerland, the US, and Canada.

My intellectual, conceptual goals here, express structurally the intriguing myriad combinations of the natural and geometric worlds. Demonstrating the ebb and flow of all life including earth, water, air, especially the vibrations of majestic sounds. All life factors, intermingling, thrown together, quickly parting. Differing states coming together in worldly balance. All the fluid dynamics of life, the mingling of colours, textures, all that we experience, fascinatingly connected.

As with Expressionism, my works are spontaneously created, changed, twisted, turned until my soul is satisfied at both the progression and the ever changing results to the point of completion.

Artist Statement

Oliver Tiura, like other artists of these decades, is obsessed with the idea of movement. He achieves it mainly by means of an intimate and invisible structure that animates the skeleton and the skin of his forms, although he also does it by the accumulation of changing reflections that the polished surface of his sculptures gather from mutations of light and by their “multidirectional” character. They are like reptiles that grasp on earth, moving about at the same time within their molecular frames endeavoring to expand, rise up and breathe, as if they were a synthesis of a conflict between earthly and aerial forces, between solid rigidity and elasticity. These are sculptures that dialogue with each other, indifferent to the spectator. They do not need anyone to see them, admire them or interpret them; they need only a space to possess and dominate, a floor to grasp and a view that allows them to contemplate the horizon.

The Golden Deer

You have broken my bones to bake your bread. Your words have pointed Daggers into my youth. Forcing me to choke on poisonous waters. Yet I emerged Beautifully

Above the surface. A vision of my former self

Fading out of existence

In front of my eyes made of fire.

Mourning in rage for a little girl

Who is lost within its blaze. In my next life, By the time you catch a glimpse of me

I’m wandering in your dreams.

I’ve transformed

From the wicked spell

You have cast upon me.

You sought me out Hunted me down Until I remained bruised And bleeding. Yet despite it all, These scars are filled In with gold. My next phase Is on a pathway crafted In a grandiose of Hope.

Rachel Barduhn

The Golden Deer

Artist Biography

Rachel Barduhn is Afro-Jamaican/German writer from Scarborough Ontario. She has been writing since the age of six and considers it her love language. Her work has also appeared in publications such as PITCH Mag, Bath Bird Zine and Pinhole Poetry. She continues to write to show her love for the art. When she isn’t writing, she indulges in books, cooking and occasionally photography or art collages.

Artist Statement

This poetic piece talks about the idea of transformation caused by the pain of a person closest to you. In this scenario, I am in the position of the deer being hunted after by a former connection. After being beaten and broken down it shows the outcome of survival shown as emerging beautifully. But along the way we mourn for our former selves as they burn away and become the past. The symbolism of scars being filled with gold is known as “kintsugi” filling in the cracks of old pottery with powdered gold. This translates to the Japanese philosophy of embracing the beauty of our imperfections as humans. Healing through a rough patch can act as agent for change and the aftermath of it bringing a brand-new hope or the light at the end of a tunnel.

2022 Annual Juried Exhibition Honourable Mention for Visual Art

Shasmika Thiagarah

Kingston Road

Artist Biography

Shasmika Thiagarajah is a university student who, in her off time, spends creating and crafting new pieces of work. Her art page: @shashmitriestoart is her exploring her identity through creative practices. She incorporates her roots in Scarborough and her Sri-Lankan heritage throughout her work. Currently, Shasmika is exploring her neighbourhood and finding odd and liminal spaces to create a space for viewers to think and reflect.

Artist Statement

Kingston Road is an essay discussing an intersection between development and homelessness. This is a collection of photos that I have taken along Kingston Road in Scarborough. Although the road goes beyond Scarborough, I chose to take these photos to document the last remaining motels that live there. There is an ongoing discussion of how Scarborough is becoming gentrified. Gentrification is when people of higher class move into working class neighbourhoods. When new development is pushed there are higher cost and a changing culture that the long-time residents can not adjust to. The desirability of an area increases as more folks move in and this pushes for more development that tears down old communities and establishments. As a consequence, gentrification creates conflict between old residents with new development.

I decided to collect these photos to create a digital collection of what is left in Kingston. Haux and their colleagues write in Cultural memory of the Digital Age?, that digital culture and heritage can be and are being documented. The authors also mention that not every part of digital heritage can be kept, as the digital world is ‘short term,’ and rapid that some will be lost. The culture of Scarborough is slowly being erased and there needs to be more done to preserve it. This visual essay can pertain of what will one day be lost. I hope that my essay can take part in digital preservation as well as be an entry of the Scarborough heritage. I hope viewers can critically observe the current states

Shuk Ching Kam (Lea)

Tension

Artist Biography

Born in Hong Kong, recently based in Toronto, Canada. Graduated from The Chinese University of Hong Kong, major in Cultural Management and minor in Journalism and Communication. I am interested in discovering between the relationship of community and people, and capture the beauty of daily life with different media such as photography and installation.

Artist Statement

Immigrating from Hong Kong to Canada, the first month was the dynamic changes of myself in a different environment and culture. I weaved the wool when I had the emotion, reflecting my insecurity in facing uncertainty, nervousness, and depression. The process of knitting wool reflects my emotional changes, every step may vary due to the moment of my inner feelings. The whole piece is not perfectly completed, it has holes, and it is narrowed at the end. I only used colorful wool which looks sharp and colorful on the surface. However, the meaning behind has the opposite meaning. The artwork will display to interact with the environment and the setting is changeable with different mediums to make the wool stretched in high-density tension. By making the wool in high tension, it can clearly show the details of the wool which also reflects every process of knitting and implies my depression.

Living in a different environment from before, I embrace the diversity and natural beauty of Canada. The wool, also acting as a rainbow, shows my mixed feeling of excitement and nervousness about discovering new places. There are always positive sides, followed by negative sides too. Tension, is me in a new country, trying to fit in the new society with hope and uncertainty, to adapt and transform. Therefore, I invited the audience to pin the maple leaves on the wool, to welcome a new stranger in the country

Sneha Ravichandran

ReAwakened

Artist Biography

Sneha (or Sun) is a Neurodivergent, Nonbinary, Queer Tamil Artist, Illustrator, and Graphic Designer born in Sri Renga

Narayana Puram, Tamil Nadu, raised in Scarborough and Seattle, based in Tkaronto. They work in a variety of mediums including coloured pencil, gouache, watercolor, acrylic inks, acrylic paint, clay, henna, wool, and recycled materials. They also use Procreate and Adobe Illustrator to make stunning digital illustrations. Sun’s work is heavily influenced by their connection to the world and often has underlying spiritual, natural, and cultural themes. In addition to their personal work, Sun works as a Graphic Designer and Illustrator, creating posters, logos, and other illustrations primarily to help local marginalized businesses. If you want to work with them, view their creations, or purchase some of their work, you can do so at sneharav.com or on Instagram as @lilsun.draws.

Artist Statement

This piece is inspired by Kali, the goddess of shakti (power), time, and destruction. She is also the mother of the Universe, the mother of all living things, she is seen as the divine protector who bestows Moksha (liberation). Kali came to me in a vision, re-awakening through her stone statue, splitting it in half, her energy reverberating throughout the cosmos. Kali is the goddess of liberation and change, shedding her old self or her dormancy to awaken to set the world free through change. This piece is an ode to the goddess but also to myself, as I envision myself as her and breaking away from things that don’t serve me, to serve my highest good. I created this piece around the time when I started seeing art as a career, which was a time of shedding limiting beliefs, unsupportive people, and reawakening the creative power I hold within me. I hope seeing Kali burst through her shell, others can be inspired to tune into her frequency and destroy theirs. To unlock their highest potentials and unleashing a world of possibility, knowing that Kali is here to support them during this transformation.

Between I move between the shadows on the morning ttc and the sweet October breeze

Amidst sugar rushes and commutes, between woes and picking up my lows

I learn to grow

Amidst caramel sunsets and withered leaves, between tears and swallowing hope anew

I navigate through it all

I move between the white office partition and the minutes on my computer screen

I move between the person I thought I am and the person I strived to be

Amidst wild anxiety and calmness, between heartaches and burgeoning dreams

I move in between

Amidst late nights and bitter coffee, between fatigue and busying myself with various things I adjust to a new reality

I move between the plush cinema seats and bubble tea shops in STC

Sonia Tao Between

Artist Biography

Sonia Tao (she/her) is a writer with a Honours BA in Media Studies from the University of Toronto. Currently a freelance writer in Toronto, she writes articles, reviews, and occasional poetry. When she’s not writing, she plays the flute and watches Studio Ghibli films (her favourite is Kiki’s Delivery Service!)

Artist Statement

Between is about some of my in-betweens in the post-pandemic world. From appreciating nature to returning to office, the poem explores what it means to be liminal. To be between suggests being caught in the middle of something. Whether it be spaces, time, or emotions, we occupy liminality in our everyday lives. Transitions allow us to pivot, opening up the possibility for learning and growth. If we can see transitions as transformative, they can become just as important as the transformations themselves.

De Maga et Hekate

Witches are inherently liminal. At least that’s what Chaewon Koo says. Witches have lived in the fringes. Outliers in society. The ability to commune with the dead; it puts you at the threshold of the liminal—between the earthly and astral realm. Magick to conjure desired intentions and manifest them into reality; doing so, you are an agent of the liminal. Knowledge to heal or hurt, thus being the deciding factor in one’s fate; an act as liminal gatekeepers.

I had more ideas to muse upon but I didn’t have time to explore my ideas further. Reality had more pressing matters at hand. I had a ritual to perform.

On the night of a Dark Moon, I found myself at a crossroads. Both metaphorical and literal. The metaphorical surfacing as the feeling of personal growth. Realizing I had grown and with that came a secondary revelation-I had outgrown things in my life. I am deep in the throes of my metamorphosis and my intuition told me that my Outerworld would soon follow. I was anxious at the potential of culling in my reality, yet knew I had to make way for the palpable chaos.

So here I was, in the dead of night on a Dark Moon, at a crossroads to perform a ritual for the ancient goddess Hekate known as Queen of the Witches. A deity associated with liminality and witchcraft—among other things. I hoped to petition her for her blessing and guidance as I traveled through this liminal space.

Shaking from both cold night air and anxiety, I poured out my bottle filled with honey-water. A preferred offering for the goddess.

“Oh Great Hekate!”

A rush of energy began to pick up. An electric feeling in my spirit and a chthonic energy. She was here.

“I find myself at the threshold. Grant unto me your blessing as I journey from past to future. May I have your guidance as I leave behind my darkest days and uncertainty.”

Chaos bubbled within me. Welling of emotions, trauma, and feelings of powerlessness rose to the surface. Intuitively, I offered them to Her as well. It was magick.

“I wish to thrive, Hekate!” I cried out, choking on the swelling emotions hoping to consume me. “I will thrive as one of your witches!” She was pleased.

A flurry of wind picked up and I began walking away from the crossroads without looking back as according to the ritual tradition for Hekate. Walking away from this crossroads, certain I was transformed. When it comes to pushing the boundary of what is next and thriving while moving through the liminal, we don’t wait for what is next—we make it. We promise ourselves to take our matters into our own hands and allow ourselves agency in the face of adversity.

I faced and walked away from one crossroads in my life. Now, I am less naïve in the face of others that life would bring me towards. I am a witch walking the path of the liminal.

Tala

De Maga et Hekate

Artist Biography

Trisha Yokingco (Tala) is a Scarborough creative exploring the intersections of art, ritual, spirituality, and her lived Filipinx experience.

Artist Statement

Growing up the word “bruha” would follow me around as an independent, assertive, and rebellious child. As a way of reclaiming and empowering myself while simultaneously unraveling colonial influences, I turn to ritual and spiritual practices similar to that of my ancestors. Their practices are an act of resilience that would be seen as witchcraft under colonialism.

With this piece, as I write about a ritual for the goddess Hekate, I capture it indefinitely in time and space. A perpetual liminal space; being at a crossroads. A ritual that connects us to the idea of her archetype for guidance as we experience liminality. A symbolic experience of ritual for the artist and reader. For many people and witches, in particular, liminality is a reoccurring experience.

Butterfly Flight

I emerged from my cocoon gilded azure blue and lilac wings fluttering in the dewy garden.

in my chrysalis

I became in reality.

I was bound in spun silk hanging from a branch on a meadow willow before I broke through.

I flew close to bright buttercups swamp-rose mallows black-eyed Susans sipped nectar from phlox bouquets.

I flitted between petals and blooms metamorphosized into an angel-insect pollinating heaven on earth.

I slept for days weeks a pupa dormant in reverie fragrant flowers illusory.

What I dreamt of becoming

Tanya Adèle Koehnke

Butterfly Flight

Artist Biography

Tanya Adèle Koehnke graduated from York University with an MA in English. Tanya taught English at several postsecondary institutions in Toronto, including Ontario College of Art & Design University (OCAD University). Tanya also has a background in arts journalism. Tanya’s poems appear in The Ekphrastic Review; The Ekphrastic World Anthology 2020; Framed & Familiar: 101 Portraits; Hamilton Arts & Letters’ “The Canadian Chapbook”; Canadian Woman Studies; The Canvas; Big Art Book; Foreplay: An Anthology of Word Sonnets; Tea-Ku: Poems About Tea; Grid Poems: A Guide and Workbook; and other publications.

Artist Statement

In my free-verse poem, “Butterfly Flight,” a butterfly liberates itself from its “spun silk” cocoon where it developed into a beautiful and remarkable creature that it dreamt of becoming in its chrysalis before it emerged in reality.

The butterfly in my poem is “an angel-insect / pollinating heaven on earth,” but it is also a metaphor for the self that expresses how an individual can metamorphosize from one state to another by dreaming a new reality and becoming what one envisions.

I am captivated by freedom and becoming and the astonishing transformational stages that exist between being.

Never Give Up Hope

The year was 1984. I’d just been laid off at my paramedical services part–time position, feeling devastated and worried about being able to make ends meet and keep my large, sunny apartment near the Scarborough Bluffs Marina. I loved to go for long walks there with my two small dogs as I nursed wounds from a recent breakup, quickly jotting down poetry with pen and paper carried in my waist pouch while plotting moves on how to obtain work in an extremely tight employment market. I’d been so happy to land this job after several dead end ones and now the company needed to cut down on staff right before Christmas…

I made my way downtown to the Eaton’s Center and wandered aimlessly around trying to distract myself from the distressing news and became drawn to the perfume counter in Eaton’s. After sampling several fragrances, I noticed a small ceramic pomander in the shape of a cottage-like house and picked it up admiring the pretty colours and smooth gloss. Tears suddenly filled my eyes as I faced the reality that I probably would never be able to afford that long sought after house in the Bluffs area – one of my favourite day dreams as I rode my ten speed bike through the tree-lined neighborhood.

I could hear my friends’ derisive voices as they often advised me, usually after a disappointing date. “You are never going to meet that knight in shining armour, riding his white horse ready to sweep you off your feet to ride into the sunset with. They don’t exist anymore!”

But I still believed.

“Would you like me to wrap that for you?” the young salesclerk asked. “Yes,” I replied firmly, handing her my last five dollars. This represents hope for the future and I will achieve this one day, I quietly said to myself.

After a few weeks, I was called back to the paramedical services, hired full time and after two years of this steady, not unpleasant work and a lot of dating, I finally met that knight in shining armour as I walked on the beach near the Bluffs Marina. We dated, fell for each other and two years later eagerly looked for a house in the Scarborough Bluffs area where he had grown up and also wished to stay in.

I had been laid off again but this time landed a wonderful long term position at King and Bay Street, making an excellent salary with full benefits.

The housing market was very expensive, but after months of searching finally found a townhouse that we could afford. After we moved into our new home, I unpacked my prettily coloured ceramic house pompadour, filled it with lavender and gave it a place of honour in the upstairs bathroom. We enjoyed our much loved home and garden for thirty years, filled with many happy memories of family and friends. Never give up hope.

2022 Annual Juried Exhibition First Place for Writting

Teresa Hall

Never Give Up Hope

Artist Biography

I’m more well known for my poetry than writing, with poems published in many venues, including Scarborough Arts Big Art Books, in Canada and internationally and also have been exhibited at the Bluff’s Gallery, Agincourt Library and Carnegie Gallery in Hamilton. However, several of my short stories, fiction and non-fiction and humorous anecdotes have been published in Canadian Stories and Anubha Mehta’s Blog. I prefer writing short stories rather than a novel or book, based on my own life experiences or people close to me and also write children’s stories.

Artist Statement

I’ve enjoyed writing both poetry and fiction, non-fiction since a young child. I grew up in a very artistic atmosphere where reading was strongly encouraged on any subject so I had a really broad knowledge of art, history and the world. I’ve always been interested in the environment which is a favourite topic for my poems but when it comes to writing stories I tend to write about that which is familiar in my own experience. I used to love listening to my parents tell stories of their growing up and our family history and have found that I’ve sort of carried on that tradition while also enjoying writing children’s stories.

I am captivated by freedom and becoming and the astonishing transformational stages that exist between being.

2022 Annual Juried Exhibition Second Place Winner for Visual Art

Ujwal Mantha

The Patchwork House of Night

Artist Biography

Ujwal Kartik Mantha is an interdisciplinary artist based in Toronto whose work revolves around stories and the way they can inform culture, space and one’s identity. Ujwal’s own identity is diverse and cross-cultural and this is reflected in his work, which ranges from two dimensional and three dimensional mediums to digital art. During his time at the University of Toronto, Ujwal worked on a number of projects at the intersection of the Arts and Social Sciences such as the Visual Dictionary of Sociology and the Inadmissables Glossary and his work has gone on to be used teaching material for the first year class at the University of Toronto. His work has been featured in a number of exhibitions such as ARTSIDEOUT, the Shelley Peterson Student Art Exhibition and the 36th Scarborough Arts Annual Juried Art Exhibition.

Artist Statement

What if all the years of your life were condensed into a physical place you could travel through? What if all those emotions, feelings and adventures were turned into a building that you could scale? The Patchwork House of Night is my attempt to answer the question with the 23 years of my own life. The House came into being one canvas every day over the month of October with each floor touching on different themes ranging from freedom, nostalgia and hope to loss and responsibility. Each canvas is accompanied by a journal entry that offers a snippet into my mind as I travel through what I’ve imagined as the summation of my entire life. The Patchwork House of Night is a celebration of change. It is a tribute to how far I’ve come and how much I’ve changed. This project exists in the space between two simple statements: “I’m older than I’ve ever been” and “I’m younger than I’ll ever be”.

Zhilan Xie

Artist Biography

Born in China, I was a TV host, writer, HR executive and artist. My father is a traditional Chinese painter. I found my own way and have had successful exhibitions in 798 art district in Beijing and have been interviewed on CCTV with a write up on my life in December 2008 Chinese Cosmopolitan magazine. Now I live in Toronto and own my art studio.

Artist Statement

The PUPA emerging from the cocoon. The cocoon lacks colour , as the dark times of the pandemic. The the red and green represents in traditional Chinese themes red being beauty and the green being hopefulness.

Zihao Xiong

Artist Biography

Zihao Xiong was born in a small town in China. In 2017, he abandoned his studies in economics to learn glass crafts at Sheridan College in Canada. During his BFA, Zihao finished his artist residency at Toronto Harbourfront Centre. After graduation, he moved to the UK to continue his practice and research in glass at the Royal College of Art. Recently, Zihao worked as a School Fellow at the Pilchuck Glass School in the US.

Artist Statement

The essence of casting is the transformation of space and matter, yet exploring the undefined dynamic boundary from the “mould” is what I have been working on. Establishing connections to the “environment” is how we learn. We always create a confined area as we define things. Just like the Casting itself, the mould exists while constructing the identity. And the definition of the mould creates boundaries. The boundary represents a dynamic connection between restraint and transformation, resistance and symbiosis, identification and negation, self and non-ego, inner reality and external perception.

Each step in the casting process speaks of transformation in the dynamic boundaries. Through the exploration of different materials in lost-wax casting, I revisit the definition of “boundaries”, the definition of “definitions”, the boundary of “boundaries”, and the relationship of “relationships”.

featured artists

ANASTASIAMEICHOLAS-ANDRIAKEEN-ANUPAPERERA-CHE REEKWON-CHOWYIKSHUN-CHRISJORDANTOQUEROCONSUL -DANASEWELL-DENISEKEMP-ISABELLESAIN-JOSHUA

SOODEEN-KENCHAN-LISAHAZELWOOD-KYLAYAGER-MARTIN VUONG-MIAKITTY-NEVITASANKAR-OLIVERTIURA-RACHEL

BARDUHN-SHASMIKATHIAGARAJAH-SHUKCHINGKAM(LEA)SNEHARAVICHANDRAN-SONIATAO-TALA-TANYAADÈLE

KOEHNKE-TERESAHALL-UJWALMANTHA-ZHILANXIE-ZIHAO XIONG

CAD $35.00

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