Supported by the Slaight Family Foundation
Artworks By: Abby Schreiber, Quinn Hopkins, Anna Nguyen, Ethan Platt, Jessica Lui, Vasundharra Sriganesh, Sara Khalil-Bayley, Anthony Micallef, Anam Feerasta, John Louie Calara, Sean Davidson, Adam Gourlay, Anita Lasek, Shinae Kim, Júlia Both Marchizio, Fay Pitsadiotis, Cathy Wong, Sarah Franzoi, Ysobel Balatbat, Chris Canales Cisneros, Rui Li, Ayomide Johnson, Parisa Shabani, Griffin McAllister, Veronica Wu, Esther Liang, Jennifer Wright
This exhibition highlights the work produced by the Drawing and Painting first year OCAD U Students from the 2019-2020 school year from the classes of Scott Everingham, Marie Charbonneau, Rob Nicholls, Mary Porter, Elisabeth Stuart, and Julius Poncelet Manapul. “First Self: Investigating Cultural Appropriation” explores the Lived Memories. A physical space where many of us reside located between the overlap and blending of experiences and memories, both imagined and real, the tangible and intangible, the physical space and the imagined space. During their first year at OCAD University, drawing and painting students investigated the Self while reflecting on ideas of Cultural Appropriation, Memory, and Representation. Through the use of a variety of materials, colours and processes in mark-making the visual vocabulary taught throughout the term allowed them to create work that integrated multiple ideas and concepts. By using these ideas, students were asked to produce work that explores an altered and constructed memory using multiple image sources and materials from their direct life experiences, and diverse interpretations through cultural identity and sense of the self. The resulting work is a reflection of the spaces they occupy translated into a self-portrait.
Fay Pitsadiotis
The Greek mythological character Hermaphroditus is a focal subject in my piece as they are both female and male. Being half Greek myself as well as not necessarily fitting into the gender binary, I found Hermaphroditus to be very much a symbol of balance, androgyny, and dualism between femininity and masculinity. I am highly interested in gender both personally and philosophically, I wanted to explore ideas of androgyny as well as what it means to be feminine, masculine, both or none, as well as the importance placed on how one presents in their preferred or assigned gender and if it matters at all. Fay Pitsadiotis
Ysobel Balatbat
The title “Bliss” refers to the idiom, “ignorance is bliss.” The painting depicts my reflection in a mirror, in the process of selecting yes or no on the Windows delete tab. What it is exactly that I am deleting is purposely unclear, though the underlying narrative is that I could be deleting my memories, or my existence entirely - thus achieving a blissfully ignorant state. I chose to render the Windows delete tab on a separate suspended canvas, while neglecting its reflection in the mirror, to depict the idea that a simple delete button does not exist in reality. To outline the concept of deletion, I left a few objects in their sketched, underpainted layers, as if their completed rendering was undone. These objects include two older pairs of glasses that symbolize versions of my past self, who I no longer identify or connect with. The only fully rendered element in the painting is my face, on the basis that I’ve become unfamiliar with my identity other than what I see in the mirror everyday. This includes a detachment from my culture; To avoid cultural appropriation, I’ve omitted references to my own culture as I lack a thorough understanding of its symbolism and traditions. Overall, I achieved a melancholic tone by using a cool, dull, violet-based colour palette. Ysobel Balatbat
Griffin McAllister
The majority of marks emerge from the back of my head, forming organelles, vegetative structures, and signs of a life pulse. The title Contractual Awareness comes from the idea that each of us, in our way have been born with a contract. This is not the form of documentary agreements in legalese, but rather in the sense that we are all bound by the will to survive. In light of cultural appropriation, I am faced with the fact that this ‘contract’ is commodified by external forces. In this piece my self-representation is at the mercy of forces beyond my control, being pulled apart by that which works beyond sight. Connecting organisms plug into my cranium to extract value objects. Structures of capitalist modernity attempt to take what I call myself and turn it into information to be bought and sold from places behind my head. Griffin McAllister
Anna Nguyen
I’m proud to be an Asian woman, a Vietnamese woman to be specific. Growing up in a poor, Communist country has taught me how to be humble, to think before opening my mouth, to not take anything for granted, and to keep my moral codes especially when being exposed to the luxury while studying abroad. This pride is displayed through three major colour schemes that are often found in Vietnamese culture, especially the red and yellow of the Vietnamese flag. However, I’ve always been a rebel and I’m not afraid to point out absurd prejudices and traditions such as it is wrong to be ourselves, to put ourselves before others, or to speak our opinions. The background is sayings in either Vietnamese or English from people that made me who I am today, including my relative’s comment on my body when I gained five kilograms, a special friend telling me that asking for care is not wrong, or simply my mother’s reminder of drinking water. Finally, the red signifies the view of all the important people in my life on my personality: an intense fire of emotions that can only be read deeply through my eyes. Anna Nguyen
Rui Li
The protagonist of this painting is a pretty ideal looking Asian girl who is traveling in a city called Chengdu with the night scene of the streets of downtown Chengdu in the background. Chengdu is a city located in southern China, where young women have white skin and face shape that is defined by European beauty standards. This work looks to question why Asian women continue to look to change their natural beauty to fit into an impossible standard created by white Europeans. Rui Li
ETHAN PLATT
As a child and in my present life I have found a large amount of restraints created by the notion of masculinity and what it means to be a man. My work Joanne recalls the first time I explicitly experienced the separation between men and women. As the only boy attending a small daycare run by a woman named Joanne, I was separated from girls including my sister. I was not to play with any “girl toys”. Instead I was allowed to play alone with blocks or sit alone on a floral-patterned couch. Repressing my “feminine” behaviour became a large defining theme in my childhood and adulthood as a result of this experience and later experiences. Joanne uses traditional painting materials and techniques as a way of referring to the procedural and “traditional” Eurocentric manner in which I was raised and expected to be a “masculine” man. Ethan Platt
PARISA HEYDARI
The Portrait shows the attachment of the artist to her cultural values by incorporating Persian carpets’ symbols and their specific meaning in the background of the work. The spring flowers in the Persian carpet represent rebirth and the trees represent a connection to nature. The turquoise color on the face is used a lot in Persian culture and represents calmness and feminine serenity. The geometric tulips in the background represent care and compassion. All the elements work together to depict an artist’s character. She is a caring mother who has always tried hard to support her children and care for them. Her love and attachment to her cultural values have always been her backbone throughout her life. She loves nature and connecting with nature has always given her calmness, patience, and peace which she needed as a mother. She has never given up on her dreams and has started over her life after each failure. Perusing her dream to become an artist and starting over her academic studies is represented in this work by incorporating spring flowers as a symbol of rebirth. Parisa Heydari
Quinn Hopkins
"Two Wolves Self Portrait" is a dramatic representation of the inner workings of my mind. I am calm on the outside, but the positioning of my hands shows a degree of stress or anxiety. In my head, there are two wolves, meant to represent my emotions and my identity. As a Metis person, I am conflicted about identifying as either Ojibwa of European descent. I want to honor my grandmother’s heritage and connect to indigenous culture through art but there are times when I doubt myself because I didn’t grow up on a reserve and never faced some of the challenges that I know so many Indigenous Canadians face. On the other hand, these wolves also represent the struggle I have with depression, I often feel like I am held down and forced into my head. The use of the black background amplifies the sense of isolation I often feel when I get into my head. Quinn Hopkins
Esther Liang
The piece “Broken membrane” illustrates a breakthrough and the overcoming of fear. I began this self-portrait having the perfect controlled visionary of its outcome. However, an unfortunate wave of creative block hit me as I sat in front of the canvas, frozen for weeks. I became increasingly frustrated with my craft and identity, trying to gather myself together yet not truly realizing what I was missing. The obsession with my perfect visionary and the expectations weighing on my back crushed me entirely and broke down my insecurities, eventually soothing my mind. Through this inevitable struggle, I discovered the freedom in art-making and the importance to truly connect with the subject and emotions during the process of creation. Abandoning the addiction of perfecting details, just like my obsession with controlling and perfecting my image to project into the world. I was once told to try the things I am most unfamiliar with to grow. My constant avoidance of this action has chained me within my head and blinded me. Through this project, I secured my identity and for once truly created an emotional connection with the piece. Although this connection is both positive and negative, staring at the piece makes me see all the imperfections that I’ve always feared, yet slowly I am beginning to be attracted to it: the beauty of accidents, and the beauty of the unknown. Esther Liang
Abby Schreiber
This duo of paintings was made as a comparison of the person I once was juxtaposed with the person that I have become. She’s Dead focused on how I now see myself when in my younger years, a discombobulated and messy combination of pieces I never got to choose for myself. In "They’re Alright", I combat the feelings of dissociation in the first piece with cleaner portraits in primary colors, bringing myself together as a new person, more confident in who I am, exploring my own gender identity as a nonbinary person, and developing a better sense of self. Abby Schreiber
Jessica Lui
I am Jessica Lui, an artist who wants to bring color and joy to the world. “ME” is an abstract expressionistic that reflects who I am and whom I would like to be. Being born and raised in Hong Kong. I incorporated Hong Kong skyline and Chinese tradition into the painting. I am a Leukaemia survivor and Bone Marrow Transplant recipient. I was given six weeks to live. While I was undergoing treatment, my world was dark, very dark. One day, I picked up the paintbrush and painted… Since then art became a huge part of my healing journey. I included some elements to reflect my cancer experience. Orange ribbon signifies Leukaemia. Picture of me sitting in my bed, where I spent weeks confined in. Shower resonates healing and cleansing. “Believe” and “You Raise Me Up” were the thoughts that I hold on to. Jessica Lui
Ayomide Johnson
“Film” is a work that is meant to express the experiences that have played a large role in my life through abstract and surrealist interpretations. The painting is done on a wood panel that has been prepped for oil paint. This support was chosen because I wanted to take the opportunity to challenge painting on a different type of surface apart from the regular canvas. The conceptual idea of the work overall is to use abstract movement and colours to convey these experiences that have left the greatest impact on my life. The eye painted in the bottom right corner is a reference to my eye and how I view things, whereas the handle attached represents the imagery I see in my mind when thinking about these experiences. It feels as though I am rolling a tape, an old film, and watching these vivid memories pass by. The main colors of yellow, blue, and white represent the colours of my Dashiki. A dashiki is a colorful garment for men and women worn mostly in West Africa. This shirt is the only traditional cloth I have left from Nigeria and the use of its colours in an edgy and jittering way is meant to symbolize the slowly fading of the memories I have of Nigeria as I get older. Despite it being my birthplace and where I have spent half my life to date, thinking about it comes with a sense of detachment followed by scattered memories. Ayomide Johnson
Vasundharra Sriganesh
I come from a home where most women were married off young by their parents, forcing them to halt their education and move towards a life of domesticated routine. My mother, aunts, and grandmother were the first few women in my family who pursued an education and pushed me to do that too by giving me the opportunities that they never had. The runaway bride is supposed to bring light into the constant dilemma that women still have to face in these times, whether to stick with tradition and culture or to pursue education and fulfill their dreams. I used bright, eye-catching colours to bring out the ‘Runaway Bride’ and to set her (myself) apart from the meek background, the burnt umber in the back is similar to photos taken in the ’80s of Tamil women, an attempt at making a connection between the past and the present. Vasundharra Sriganesh
Chris Canales-Cisneros
In El Salvador’s culture, there are two categories of labour, which are daily forms of work like food preparation, and harsher manual labor. Both are topics related to one another through the more profound concept of gender norms enrooted in El Salvador’s customs. I wanted to represent this social structure as more than a simple binary of ‘men vs. women’; thus, I used vegetation as symbolism, which is a common practice in El Salvador’s artwork. Each plant in the composition represents a different traditional dish or form of manual labor that is specific to the region. The piece completed on orange linen with a floral motif that is typical of what would be found in the region; orange is also labeled the unofficial color of El Salvador do to the fact that it reflects the clay earth of the land. Chris Canales-Cisneros
Sarah Franzoi
The conflict between religious communities and the lgbtq+ community is not an underrepresented topic; less often, however, do we see representation of individuals who embrace both identities and the struggle they face. For a long time I struggled to come to terms with my sexuality, as my faith is still of great importance to my identity. Both communities tell you to choose one side or the other, but I could not give either up. I am finally in a place where I have embraced both of my identities and have found peace in both of them coexisting. This piece appropriates the typical halo, pose, and attire of Christian Byzantine icons in order to indicate my religious background and that I am still a person of faith. More subtly is the bisexual flag colours in my shirt. The expression of contentment on my face shows that I am finally at peace. Sarah Franzoi
Sara Khalil-Bayley
I use mixed media in a scrapbook-style pattern to evoke a sense of saved memory, of preserving something that I don't want to lose. Being caught in between two countries, between the East and the West, between a house by the harbour and a house in the mountains, has led me all my life to feel like an outcast in either location. I feel as if something's been stolen from me as if I have no right to be Azerbaijani here and no right to be Canadian there. I depict myself looking out from behind the bars on the balcony of my old home, wondering why this divide shouldn't be seen as a good thing… Better to be both, rather than fit myself into one square hole, saying "this is who I am" instead of what I could be saying, which is "this is all that's a part of me." Sara Khalil-Bayley
Anthony Micallef
This piece focus’ on my personal experiences of chronic pain. I have a connection to my culture or point of reference, so I wanted to showcase my paradigm and point of view as a young artist dealing with a set of specific obstacles that I must deal with in my day to day life. I like creating work with forced perspectives, so I have situated the figure in a tiny room with a window to convey the struggle for me to find any kind of comfort. This piece is very much a self-portrait focused entirely on emphasizing my own experience with chronic body pain, especially as I try to sleep at night. Anthony Micallef
Anam Feerasta
My work explores aspects of identity and the cultural barriers that prevent one’s identity from being fully realized. These barriers are both internal and external, and a product of our upbringing, societal expectations, the relationships in our lives and the beliefs that we adopt along the way. Balancing one’s individuality in the face of these cultural barriers is a constant struggle that demands courage to actively define an independent identity for oneself. This self-portrait serves as a window into one aspect of this struggle, mainly within the context of marriage, which is a significant part of South Asian culture. The bright colours and intricate embroidery of the drapery used to reflect the richness of this culture and create the illusion of a ‘dupatta’ (veil) over a bride’s head. The drapery and the bride’s disposition speak to traditional, cultural expectations surrounding subordination, beauty, and compromise that are, unfortunately, only relevant to female members of the South Asian community. Anam Feerasta
John Louie Calara
"2001 and so on" is a set of small paintings that is dedicated to my parents who I feel a personal disconnection to. While this isn’t a set apology to them, it certainly is a first step. I wanted to work small; identical sizes to the actual photos I used as a reference. Blowing up the photo to a larger scale would remove the sincerity. I always looped around back to my family. As I always considered how extremely family orientated my family is, as its culture because I knew how other Filipino families had the same idea. Growing up, I always felt at best when alone, and showing my true self around my parents, I was always ashamed. I learned to separate me from the person I was with my family to the person I was when I was alone or with friends. So, growing up, family wasn’t the most important thing to me. And only recently has changed, regarding this situation, began to happen. And I wanted to take a portion of who I am, and a portion who my family is, and make them connect for once. John Louie Calara
Sean Davidson
Error Code Culture is a compilation of photos I have previously taken of lived experiences. Although, the cultural appropriation aspect was truly challenging for me. Whereas my heritage is not an integral part of my life and my family that represents my culture is slowly fading away. Much like the mix of water based acrylic and oil paint I used which has no guarantee of staying together on the canvas. Alternatively, as a child I spent much of my time at my grandparent’s house which is composed of French-English art and architectural traditions, Roman miniatures and marble detailing. As well as bizarre wallpaper and gorgeous large windows that overlooks an orchard in the front and a forest in the back. Their forever home has always been a beacon of calm but as I’ve grown both my grandparents and my second home have slowly deteriorated right in from of my eyes. Sean Davidson
Adam Gourlay
This self-portrait focuses on communication and understanding. These are 2 things I think about quite a lot. From my past, my sister has autism and schizophrenia- meaning that she cannot communicate very effectively. She doesn’t know how to stay focused, and she, very often, does not recognize me unless somebody says, “This is Adam”. This is something that I have dealt with my entire life and is a big reason why I am who I am today. This piece uses language that is not my own, as a way to express communication between two people that are close by relation and proximity yet, seemingly, cannot speak the same language. From now to the future, one person that has helped me grow more than I thought possible is my wife. Representative in this work is us, as partners, trying to broaden our understanding of the world within and around us. Adam Gourlay
Anita Lasek
Familiarity is a self-portrait composed of my memories growing up. The memories reflect on the theme of stability and instability during my time of growing up. I was inspired by the idea of the importance of family within my life. While growing up and through the sudden death of my father I have learned how fast-paced and unpredictable life can be. Turning to old photographs as forms of research, I had combined and depicted some of my favourite childhood memories. I was fascinated by the blending abilities of oil paint and used this to my advantage within the work. The focal point of the work is the two figures in the center, the figures are my brother and I as children. Surrounding the figures is a hazy scene of the memories combining and overlapping one another. My brother and I standing united symbolizing a strong source of stability in my life. Anita Lasek
Júlia Both Marchizio
"Origens" is a piece created to mimic my childhood memories in Brazil and the sense of not belonging to my German and Italian background. In order to represent a memory like the feeling I assembled a digital collage from my childhood vacation pictures and to embody Brazilian new year traditions I inserted white roses in the sea; On the second panel two pictures of the most famous churches in both Italy and Germany are collaged with an image of myself in the centre overwhelmed by those cultures. The images are projected on wood panels to develop a 3D quality to the piece. The oil painted figures of myself represent respectively the presence and the absence of those spaces within myself. I believe this work is a crucial part of my acceptance to a certain grief I developed since I moved to Canada due to the physical barrier this created with my people and culture. Júlia Both Marchizio
Shinae Kim
Discovering painting was like discovering another life inside of me, the existence of another creature in me that’s a big part of who I am and who I’m becoming. Waking up and painting first thing in the morning is what I do these days, what makes me happy, what fulfills my being, and I wanted to capture my life here and now with this self-portrait.
Veronica Wu
My piece illustrates my interaction with my grandmother when she was younger. We are both wearing traditional Chinese clothing, having traditional Chinese afternoon tea, “yum cha, dim sum”. I always dream of meeting my grandmother when she was a teenager, listening to her talking about how my grandpa has survived in World War II with his siblings and their love stories. This piece expresses Chinese traditions. It is less common for Chinese teenagers to have traditional Chinese afternoon tea nowadays, and barely anyone wears traditional Chinese clothing which holds great significance in my heart. Illustrating the interactions between my grandma and I highlights cultural education and also values and perspective, combining my dreams’ storytelling aspect allows me to further study and research upon the contrast between past versus the present cultural norms and values. Veronica Wu
Cathy Wong
This piece is a combination of photos from my childhood when my parents owned a Chinese restaurant. In the painting, my older brother and I are standing on top of a polka-dotted bedsheet that we used to have. The light pink background was the colour of the wallpaper in the restaurant. It merges with blue and yellow because I wanted to capture the printing errors in the photos. My intention was to create something that reminded me of happy memories because my brother suffered through mental health issues recently. It reminisces on our carefree childhood and I tried to capture this idea by using thick brushstrokes, like a finger painting. As well, the food on the restaurant’s menu reminded me of cultural appropriation but to a lot less of a degree, as we had to change traditional foods on the menu for it to be appealing to the westerners. Cathy Wong
Jennifer Wright
Due to the fact that my previous works are all based on memories of lived experience I let the process inform the final composition. Based on collages of my past works, in this composition I draw on and explore my personal mythology. The painting depicts a younger version of myself looking on to an older version having brought my children into the world, reflecting a sense of archetypal image and story. Many colour choices recall my past work, and further colour choices come more spontaneously through the process of painting. My focus was on colour harmony and limiting the use of white until the final highlights. This project provided an opportunity to work with colour mixing and to further explore previous works in a new way. Jennifer Wright
Curators Note: This digital exhibition is the result of a global pandemic. The original intent was to show these works in the Ada Slaight Gallery at OCAD University, but as artists, we must always be open to change and adaptation. Although the work produced is Pre-COVID, it is crucial to ensure that we do not overlook student artwork. This pandemic is changing the way artists create and show work and changing the way art lovers view work. Natia Lemay