SPECIAL EVENT

Isabella Astolfi is a 22-year-old Argentinian-born photographer based in Montréal, Quebec. She completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography at Concordia University in April 2023. Her work addresses themes such as belonging, familiarity and self-image.

Astolfi’s current photographic work mainly focuses on specific people and places that she has a strong and personal affinity with and that have allowed her to reflect her personal self in the best way. Isabella’s work consists of landscapes and portraits that demonstrate this personal documentation, which is mainly produced through a mixture of digital and analog photography.

Astolfi additionally shares a found passion for documentary photography, which primarily consists of photographing suburban landscapes and environments. She enjoys documenting discarded materials and architecture that follow a specific pattern regarding color and minimalistic space. Isabella purposely intends to keep her work as subtle as possible, through making predominant use of black and white as well as working with a range of soft colours.

Isabella Astolfi’s work to date has circled between both of these subject matters and she will be pursuing a Master’s Degree in Art and Cultural Management at École EAC in Paris, France starting September 2024.

Long Bui’s (they/he) art practice ranges from photography to poetry and graphic design. Their work explores identity through lenses of queerness and Buddhist mindfulness. They understand that change is the only true given, and their practice is an attempt to grapple with the nature of impermanence— or vô thường—while also learning their own place and that of others within a diasporic collective.

Lola Cera is a series of functional ceramic pieces designed and produced by Montreal-based artist Camille Zurini. When she designed the cow cup in university, Zurini did not expect to start a brand. After her cow cup design proved to be popular with people online and offline, she decided to start producing it in small batches in her workshop. In September 2016, she decided to launch her company. While she produces bowls, plates and custom pieces, the cow cup and magnet remain the symbol of Lola Cera.

Victor is an artist and designer who explores different mediums, with a focus on ceramics, glass, and metal. His work often explores themes of anthropomorphism, cuteness as a form of defiance, and biomorphism. His pieces are characterized by a playful, imaginative aesthetic as well as a subtle and distinctive touch of humor, intrinsic components of his identity and artistic expression.

Club Ami is a social club at the foot of the Côte-des-Neiges that is open to everyone.

We tie-dye t-shirts with our hands, each of them made by ALL THE COMMUNITY.

Michael Eddy is a Montréal-based artist and writer working across various media including drawing, text, video, sculpture, performance, and installation. His works vary greatly in appearance but coalesce around specific historical and political contexts, from freedom of speech discourses, to the normativity of mass media, to the warping of subjectivity around technological changes. Eddy studied fine arts in Frankfurt and Halifax and has exhibited and published across Canada and internationally.

Yael Ezerzer is an artist based in Tiohtià:ke / Montréal. Her work incorporates the use of images, video, sculpture and text. Inspired by everyday moments, Yael engages primarily with organic materials and common objects. Rooted in acts of care, her work endeavors to inspire introspection and universal connectivity. Through her fascination with light and temporality, her work aims to impart a sense of hopefulness. Ezerzer recently completed a BFA in photography at Concordia University (2023) and has shown work in Montréal, including Eastern Bloc (2020), Galerie POPOP (2020), and Maison de la Culture Janine Sutto (2023).

Lauren Francescone is an American artist who has been living in Montréal since 2021. Her ceramic works are designed to call their own utility into question and explore beauty, sensuality, and decoration. The principles of architecture and design provide a framework for her approach. She publishes and designs Temperatures, an occasional publication about artists working in clay.

Ibrahim Mahmoud is an image-based artist located in Tiohtia:ke/Montreal. Their artistic practice encompasses photography, video, and installation that reflects a personal philosophy of art-making inspired by meandering and contemplation. Mahmoud’s work relies on image compositions and other formal components, such as sounds or writings, to reflect on how narrative and imagery influence one another.

Their work touches on themes of cultural identity and a search for a sense of belonging inspired by the immigration experience of their parents, and by the notion of community.

Tyra Maria Trono is a filipina artist and cultural worker based in Tiohtià:ke/Montréal. Her artistic work focuses on exploring embodied experiences and narratives, often linking them to culturally significant artifacts in specific geographic contexts. She delves into questions surrounding one's perception formation during the cultural identification process and how belonging to a diasporic community alters this trajectory. Trono utilizes archival research and oral histories to highlight the enduring impact of storytelling. She is currently pursuing a Master of Fine Arts at Concordia University and has been awarded with the Lande Award and the Roloff Beny Fellowship in Photography.

Mathis Martel is an emerging multidisciplinary artist from Montréal, Québec. He studied visual arts at Cégep du Vieux Montréal and is currently pursuing studies in fine arts at Concordia University. His versatile artistic practice transcends the boundaries of painting, extending to sculpture and installation.

Inspired by hard-edge and Abstract Expressionism, his minimalist paintings blend geometric precision with expressive freedom. Simultaneously, his work in sculpture and installation is distinguished by a "ready-made" approach, drawing inspiration from often industrial and everyday objects.

Precious Puppies is an animated series & handcrafted goods brand created by Lenore Claire Herrem. The first season “Book Club Mystery” was DIY produced in 2021, and “Donnies” is currently in DIY production. Hand airbrushed garments, stickers, zines, magnets, keychains, candles, scarves, and many other goods have been made available, and this holiday season will be featuring calendars and greeting cards.

Assiyah Jamilla Touré is a multidisciplinary artist of West African descent. They were born and raised on Skwxwú7mesh land and are now currently based in Kanien’kehà:ka territory. They make one of a kind pieces of wearable art and ephemeral objects, as well as prints and posters of multimedia work.

Fiona Vail (she/they) is an undergraduate student of art history and classics. Her artistic practice focuses largely on multimedia illustration, which she uses to make narrative pieces which bring together personal histories, classical and folkloric receptions, and multispecies kin-making.

Canadian illustrator and painter of Haitian origin, Wendy-Alexina Vancol explores in depth the notions of heritage, diaspora, memory and identity. She breaks free from common representations of black bodies in white spaces, emphasizing marginalization, social pressure and prejudice. Through her work, she allows these bodies to occupy space in an unconventional way.

Holder of a bachelor’s degree in visual arts from Concordia University, Vancol exhibits his works in group exhibitions and sees them published throughout the province. She was awarded the AUCU Fine Art Prize competition (2021) and is a finalist for the BMO First Art Prize (2021). She has just successfully concluded her first solo exhibition at the Maison de la culture de Notre-Dame-de-Grâce in Montréal (2022), one of the exhibited works of which was acquired by the Municipal Collection of Works of Art of the City of Montréal (2023).