Art Toronto 2023

Shuvinai Ashoona

Living in Kinngait on the southern tip of Baffin Island, Shuvinai Ashoona is part of Canada’s Inuit culture. Far from dystopic, Shuvinai’s brightly coloured drawings teem with life; and while her community occasionally clashes with the artist’s creatures, they co-exist peacefully. Her art has been featured in the official curated section of the 2022 Venice Biennial “The Milk of Dreams”. She was awarded a special mention by the jury.

Clovis-Alexandre Desvarieux

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 lens 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. Desvarieux is a founding member of the art collective Atelïer Good People. His art has recently been exhibited at the Montréal Museum of Fine Arts, Sargent’s Daughters West (Los Angeles) and the Doris McCarthy Gallery (University of Toronto).

Allie Gattor

Allie Gattot’s creative process begins with the observation of everyday life. While her work is reminiscent of children’s book illustrations, it is cathartic and can be surprising due to its combination of cheeky feminism and dark humour. Her work has been exhibited at Galerie Louise et Reuben Cohen of the University of Moncton, at Mayten’s Projects (Toronto) and at Andrew Edlin Gallery (New York City).

Moridja Kitenge Banza

Canadian Congolese artist Moridja Kitenge Banza was born in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, in 1980. He will have a solo exhibition at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection later this November. He was awarded 1st prize at the 2010 DAK’ART Biennial. With “Chiromancies,” a series of paintings begun in 2008, Kitenge Banza creates a cartography in which history, memory, and territory are in dialogue. He unveils a semi-fictional universe, where the inscription of his potential, current, or past narrative in space sublimates it in place.

Manuel Mathieu

Manuel Mathieu’s (b. 1986) interests are partially informed from his upbringing in Haiti – just after the fall of the Duvalier dictatorship – and his experience emigrating to Montréal at the age of 19. His art investigates themes of historical violence, erasure, resilience and cultural approaches to physicality, nature and spiritual legacy. The Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami and the Max Ernst Museum (Brühl) will present solo exhibitions by Mathieu in 2024 and 2025.

Michaëlle Sergile

Michaëlle Sergile works mainly on archives including texts and works from the postcolonial period from 1950 to today. Her artistic work aims to understand and rewrite the history of Black communities, and more specifically of women, or communities living in diverse intersections, through weaving. Often perceived as a medium of craftsmanship and categorized as feminine, the artist uses the lexicon of weaving to question the relationships of gender and race. She has recently exhibited at the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, the Musée d’art de Joliette and the Off Biennale de Dakar.