Sonya Mwambu is an experimental filmmaker and editor based in Toronto. She graduated from York University’s film production program where she developed her craft in shooting and experimenting with film to explore concepts of race, language and a connection to her own cultural identity. Although she was born in Kampala, she grew up in Canada and her films are centred on the intersections of her identities.
Geneviève Wallen is a Tiohtiá:ke Mooniyang/Montreal and Tkaronto/Toronto based independent curator, writer, and researcher. Wallen's practice is informed by diasporic narratives, intersectional feminism, intergenerational dialogues, BIPOC alternative healing platforms. Her ongoing research focuses on the intersections of longevity and pleasure as contemplative spaces for care work in the arts.
Her most recent curatorial projects include Made of Honey, Gold, and Marigold (2020) presented at the Robert McLaughlin Gallery in Oshawa, and Little Musings (2020) an online collective correspondence in partnership with MICE Magazine and co-facilitated with artist Eve Tagny. Wallen contributed essays for C magazine; the anthology Other Places: Reflections on Media Arts in Canada, edited by Deanna Bowen; and the anthology The Politics of Spatial Transgressions in the Arts, edited by Gregory Blair & Noa Bronstein.
Wallen is the Exhibition Coordinator at FOFA Gallery. She is also part of the collective YTB (Younger than Beyoncé) Gallery; the co-initiator (with Marsya Maharani) of Souped Up, a series of sporadic and thematic dinners for racialized curators and cultural workers; a member of the Black Curators Forum; an advisory committee member for the BLACK PORTRAITURE[S]: Toronto, Absent/ed Presence conference and she recently joined the advisory board of the Centre for the Study of Black Canadian Diaspora.
Instagram handle @wallen_curates
Kristin Li was born in Chengdu, China, and currently works in Tiohtià:ke (Montreal) and Tkaronto (Toronto), Canada. As a filmmaker and multimedia artist, Kristin creates narratives, animations, documentaries, installations, and encounters that explore contemporary formations of power. These projects investigate the foundational divisions and hierarchies that maintain our social order—the ways these systems condition us in spite of our intentions, and the hidden sites of possibility that we can exploit towards greater collective capacities.
Since 2009, Kristin has been a collective member of the Prisoner Correspondence Project, a volunteer-run penpal program, resource library, and newsletter for LGBTQ+ prisoners across Canada and the United States.
ig @krizzly.man / ig @prisonercorrespondenceproject
Oliver Husain is a filmmaker and interdisciplinary artist based in Toronto. Husain’s projects often begin with fragment of history, a rumor, a personal encounter or a distant memory. He uses a wide range of cinematic languages and visual pleasures — such as dance, puppetry, costume, and special effects — to animate his research and charm or fold the viewers into complex narrative set-ups. Recently, his stereoscopic film installation "Isla Santa Maria 3D" (2016), imagining a queer utopia on the remnants of colonialism, was shown internationally. "DNCB" is an ongoing collaboration with Berlin based artist Kerstin Schroedinger investigating the history of alternative HIV treatments, shown as a lecture performance, video installation and 16mm film.
Alec Butler is a Two-Spirit, Non-binary, Intersex activist and an award winning playwright, author and filmmaker, they write, direct, edit and perform in their videos and champions the DIY (Do-It-Yourself) and DIWO (Do-It-With-Others) aesthetic. Author of the queer novella Rough Paradise and the plays Black Friday?, Medusa Rising, Cradle Pin and Shakedown, Butler is a scholar in Indigenous Studies and Sexual Diversity Studies at the University of Toronto. Their research centres on Two-Spirit Queer Indigenous Literatures, Cultures, Communities and Politics. Alec is of Indigenous (Mi'kmaq) and Settler (French/Irish) descent originally from Unama'ki (Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia).
Midi Onodera is an award-winning filmmaker and media artist who has been making films and videos for 35+ years. In 2018, Midi received the Governor General’s Award for Visual and Media Arts. Her work is laced with markers of her experiences as a feminist, lesbian, Japanese-Canadian woman. She has produced over 25 independent shorts, ranging from 16mm film to digital video to toy camera formats. Her film The Displaced View (1988) was nominated for Best Documentary at the Gemini Awards. Skin Deep (1995), her theatrical feature, screened internationally at festivals including the Rotterdam International Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival. Since 2006 she has made over 500 Vidoodles (defined as bite-sized 30 second to 2 minute video doodles). Each year since 2009 she presents an annual video project addressing themes of language, media, politics and everyday life. Her online videos can be viewed at: www.midionodera.com or www.vidoodles.com
B.G-Osborne is a gender variant settler of Scottish and British descent originally hosted on Treaty 20 territory (Southern Ontario), currently working in Tio'tia:ke (Montréal).
Osborne’s ongoing projects seek to address the complexities and revisionary potential of gender-variant representation/embodiment, and unpack their experiences with mental illness and well-kept family secrets. They place great importance in working with artist run centres and non-commercial galleries across Turtle Island.
XVK, aka @XVK_XVK (or 三喜) is an asian-pop-girl-band-artist-collective of members Xuan Ye, Véronique Sunatori and Sara Kay Maston. Merging images, video, performance and sculptural objects, XVK employs the "asian-pop-girl-band" trope to deconstruct narratives and myths of Asian girl stereotypes, and to critique the capitalist exploitation and fetishism of females in idol industry. XVK appropriates the persona of the pop star to introduce vulnerability, anger, defiance, humor, boredom, and anxiety that are often neglected in celebrity and idol culture centered around East Asia. In the wake of the concurrent socio-political environment, and around the circulation of disinformation, XVK searches for an alternative history that casts light on the contemporary, suggesting a praxis of activism that functions beyond the conventional white box context. The mega stars have released two pop singles "Cute Cute Manifesto Manifesto” (2017) and “╰(8:8:8)╯♡” (2018). Eliminating sound as the core of the pop music machine, both songs are performed as silent music videos.
Jaene F. Castrillon is a multi-disciplinary artist who explores their relationship to the world through Indigenous teachings of Elder Isaac Day of Serpent River First Nations and the wisdom of the land. Jaene identifies as mixed race (Colombian/Hong Kong Chinese), Trans, queer person of color living with disabilities (physical, cognitive & psychiatric). Jaene believes in sharing the brilliance and heart-break of living a life less ordinary.
Mikiki is a queer video and performance artist from Newfoundland. They attended NSCAD and Concordia before returning to St. John's to work as Programming Coordinator at Eastern Edge Gallery. They later moved to Calgary to work as the Director of TRUCK Gallery. Their work has been presented throughout Canada in self-produced interventions, artist-run centres and public galleries. Their practice and political history informed a shift into sexual health education work around 2003. Mikiki has since worked as a Sexuality Educator in Calgary's public schools, a Bathhouse Attendant in Saskatoon, Drag Queen Karaoke Hostess in St. John's all informing their work in Gay Men's Health. Mikiki has worked as Gay Men's Sexual Health Outreach Worker in Ottawa, HIV Educator in Montreal, the Poz Prevention Coordinator at Toronto People With AIDS Foundation and now runs a harm reduction street outreach program and provides HIV testing for a community health centre.
Chorus Member A, PWUD
Chorus Member C, PWUD
Chorus Member D, PWUD
Catherine Jones
Rémy Huberdeau
Jeff Lee Petry and Nathan Drillot (Salazar Film)
Fallon Simard
Vivek Shraya
Souad Martin-Saoudi
Erika DeFreitas
Jessica Karuhanga
Megan Feheley
Christina Battle
Wrik Mead
Geoffrey Pugen
Sonya Reynolds
Nadine Valcin
Terry Jones
E Hearte
Rayne Violet
Amber Kim
Jennifer Rose
Bernard
Shae
Esery Mondesir
Mike Hoolboom
Ethann Néon
Lisa Truttmann
Karen Akerman & Miguel Seabra Lopes
Ricardo Vieira Lisboa
SoJin Chun
Clayton Beugeling
Giovana Olmos
Tina Takemoto
Mary Galloway
Karly Stark
Joseph Medaglia
Mary J. Daniel
David Rimmer
Chris Chong Chan Fui
Ellie Epp
Tom Chomont
Sarah Pucill
Vincent Grenier
Victoria Cheong aka New Chance
Zainub Verjee
Leila Sujir
Dr. Michelle Mohabeer
Sylvia D. Hamilton
Christene Browne
Marjorie Beaucage
Rea McNamara
Maria Teresa Larrain
Sean Horlor and Steve Adams
Kennlin Lake Barlow
Joella Cabalu
Milena Salazar
SALAZAR film
Gil Goletski
Paula Durette
Emily Pelstring
Alexis Mitchell
Gokce Oraloglu
Zehra Gokcimen
ABSTRACT RANDOM
Anna Linder
Sabrina Budiman
Charuvi Agrawal
jes sachse
Sharrae Lyon
Thirza Jean Cuthand
Ayo Tsalithaba
Alison Duke
Jeldin Okurapa (JELZ)
Seyi Adebanjo
Uynas
Ashleigh Rae
Alexandra Gelis
Rahim Thawer