Art Toronto 2022
Shuvinai Ashoona lives and works in Kinngait, Nunavut. Her drawings imagine the past and present fused into a prophetic future such as hybrid creatures, women birthing worlds, and mystical or other-worldly landscapes clearly inspired by the terrain of her northern home. Her work is currently included in the central exhibition of the Venice Biennial “The Milk of Dreams”.
Clovis-Alexandre Desvarieux was born in Port-au-Prince. He now lives and works in Montreal. He obtained a degree in engineering from Concordia University before devoting himself to visual arts. Desvarieux explores universal concepts through the prism of Haitian mythology and history. He works simultaneously on three complementary bodies of works: representations of voodoo deities, reflections on the salvatory potential of the Haitian ecosystem and abstract paintings inspired both by his personal journey and by the larger history of the Caribbeans.
My printing process was active, intuitive, and full of movement which reflects my overall approach to art making in the studio. The prints capture energy while I play with colour. Overall the subject resists the grid to march over the surface of the paper.
– Maria Hupfield
And the light reveals what I am.
A hybrid and complex being.
Torn by several contradictions.
And the light illuminates the darkness.
The darkness that was the Belgian colonization in Congo.
– Quote by Moridja Kitenge Banza extracted from the introduction text of the exhibition “Et la lumière fut”, at the AGO
Born in Haiti, Manuel Mathieu is a multidisciplinary artist based in Montreal. He is best known for his vibrant, colourful paintings, which deftly merge abstraction and figuration. His paintings and installations combine personal memories with thoughts on Haiti’s complex history, and reflect an instability of form and a sense of pareidolia. In 2020, Mathieu was the subject of solo exhibitions at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and The Power Plant (Toronto). The Longlati Foundation (Beijing) and the Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami will present solo exhibitions of his work in 2022-2024.
Cindy Phenix’s work focuses on the relationship between the public and private spheres. She explores the various norms that govern them, the dynamic of their coexistence, the power relations they are the site of and the emotions they trigger. To this end, the artist creates complex scenes that convey powerful narrative and affective movements. Phenix draws her inspiration from participation/discussion groups that she organizes and leads. Through collaborative projects and shared experiences, these groups aim to raise awareness of feminine experience.