Discipline: visual arts

abeer dagher esber

Abeer Dagher Esber is a Syrian writer and filmmaker based in Montreal. Her multidisciplinary practice bridges literature, cinema, and visual art, exploring how memory, exile, and architecture intertwine to shape personal and collective identity. A graduate of Damascus University in English Literature, she has authored several Arabic novels—including Freefall (سقوط حر) and Inheritors of Silence (ورثة الصمت)—and has worked in film and television production across Damascus, Beirut, and Montreal. Her current project, The Ninth Step, is a hybrid feature film combining fiction, documentary, and photo-roman aesthetics. Set between Damascus and Montreal, the film follows a woman who reconstructs fragments of her past—love, betrayal, and disappearance—through the architecture of both cities. Using still photography, voiceover, and layered sound design, The Ninth Step explores how urban space becomes an archive of trauma and desire, and how remembering itself becomes an act of survival. Blurring the lines between personal testimony and cinematic essay, Abeer Dagher Esber’s
work continues to investigate the fragile geographies of belonging, questioning how memory inhabits both the body and the city.

leah evangelista woolner

Leah Evangelista Woolner is a Filipina-Canadian visual artist and community organizer. Her artistic practice explores themes of belonging, desire, storytelling, and relationships with the natural world through painting, mixed media collage, and video installation. Leah continues to (un)learn and be inspired by her relationships with diasporic communities and interspecies beings. She holds a Bachelors of Fine Arts from Concordia University (2012) and lives in Montreal.

Her project explores the materials, symbols, and imagery of woven textiles from the Philippines. Through her artistic practice, she is curious about the embodied practices, cultural memory, and ecological relationships illustrated through the content and materials of these fabrics.

nicolas fattouh

Nicolas Fattouh is an emerging theatre artist, visual artist, and animation director who recently relocated from Monsef, Lebanon, to Montreal, Canada. He has participated in over 30 local and international art exhibitions and auctions with his paintings, sculptures, and installations, including at Bonhams (London) in 2016.

Nicolas’s love for theatre began at the age of 8 when he directed small plays with the help of his sisters and school friends, performing them for parents and neighbors in his backyard. Passionate about storytelling and drawing, he pursued his education in 2D/3D animation at the Académie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts, graduating with a master’s degree (first in his class) in 2017.

In 2021, Nicolas made his theatrical debut with his first professional hybrid play, “Living with a Piece of Furniture”, which aimed to make history by helping his 95-year-old grandmother become the eldest president of the Sorority of the Immaculate Conception in her village. The play was selected in many festivals including the Zoukak Sidewalks Festival (Beirut) in December 2022 and the Zürcher Theater Spektakel (Switzerland) in August 2023.

transpacific express

Meeting in China through a McGill language exchange program, Elsasoa Jousse and Frantz Lin created Transpacific Express (TE) over their mutual interest in Asian and African American solidarity movements of the 60s and Asian-language hip-hop. TE continues the spirit of these historical predecessors in celebrating and building linkages between global BIPOC youth cultures. The collective launched its first music curation event in Fall 2019 with inaugural keynotes from scholars of global Asian media, showcasing its sincere and serious approach to pop culture deeply informed by media and cultural studies.

Transpacific Express are El, Frantz, and Celia Benhocine, lifelong musicians trained in classical, jazz, and r&b. In the five years since its inception, TE has integrated into the Montreal cultural milieu with commissioned works in music curation and performance for MAI, Festival Accès Asie, YATAI MTL, POCHA MTL, Korea And The Youth Culture Festival, and the RIDM International Documentary Festival. These performances have taken the form of DJ sets with MCing and singing, as well as artist talks on music history. In events produced by the collective, TE pushes for sonic-visual integration through simultaneous DJing and VJing with anime-style figurative visuals.

Currently, TE aims to further develop its capacity for embodied visual expression to build a more interdisciplinary media practice, on top of music as its core discipline. By doing so, the collective aims to amplify its unique approach to global pop culture that emphasizes the mutual convergences between Black Atlantic music & dance and East Asian visual culture, seeking to break from silo-ed perceptions of its work as serving any single demographic community.

lynn kodeih

Lynn Kodeih is the recipient of the Verticale — centre d’artistes (VCA)+MAI Joint Support Program 2023-2025. Lynn Kodeih will be part of VCA’s 2023-2025 programming, 𝑻𝒓𝒂𝒋𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒐𝒊𝒓𝒆, 𝒂𝒎é𝒏𝒂𝒈𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒆𝒕 𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒊𝒖𝒔 𝒍𝒐𝒄𝒊.

Lynn Kodeih was born in Beirut and has lived in Tiohtià:ke/Mooniyang/Montreal since 2020. Her work focuses on the politics of the image and explores notions of space, borders, itinerancy, and belonging in a colonial and postcolonial world. Her art practice interweaves autotheory, video, and installation. Kodeih has a bachelor’s degree in literary studies and a DES and master’s degree in theatre and performance (Beirut, Lebanon). Her work has been presented in several international group exhibitions, including at the Kunstbanken Performance Festival (Norway), the Rotterdam Film Festival (Netherlands), Transart Triennial (Berlin, Germany), as well as Home Works – Ashkal Alwan, Beirut Art Center, and Beirut Art Fair (Lebanon).

roberto santaguida

Since completing his studies in film production at Concordia University, Roberto Santaguida’s films and videos have been shown at more than 400 international festivals, including Tampere Film Festival (Finland), CPH: DOX, Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival (Denmark), Contemporary Art Festival Sesc_Videobrasil (Brazil), Flickers’ Rhode Island International Film Festival (United States), Transmediale (Germany), and Message to Man (Russia).  He has also taken part in artist residencies in numerous countries, including Iran, Romania, Germany, Norway, and Australia.  Roberto is the recipient of the K.M. Hunter Artist Award and a fellowship from Akademie Schloss Solitude in Germany.

Summary:

I will investigate Methods of Coping — the techniques and processes implemented by artists who are facing personal challenges.  I will engage in a form of cooperative dialogue with the consultants, based on asking and answering questions to draw out underlying ideas. An area of interest I will be examining with the group is the idea of bearing witness to one’s subterranean forces instead of attempting to ignore and hide from them.

 

Photo credit: Yasemin Ergin

marwan sekkat

Marwan Sekkat is a Franco-Moroccan interdisciplinary artist living in Quebec. Simulation, the living, subversion, the erroneous and the absurd are at the heart of his practice. Although digital technology is not central to his work, it serves as an ideal ally and tool for questioning our (his) contemporary world. His preferred mediums therefore range from installation to rap, simulation, virtual reality, glitch, VJing, subversion and the creation of real-time visuals. His recent projects involve setting up installations that explore notions of time, modernity and progress. Just as a video game provides us with a simulation of reality, he attempts to create a simulacra of what is real by concealing the digital using techniques such as cabinetmaking, textile work or botany. Fascinated by what is experimental, he hopes his works might provide a moment of sensibility to the public.

Transmission is a summary of his research-creation work around themes of intimacy and intra-familial transmission. By contrasting his artistic practice with traditional Moroccan craft practices, Marwan seeks to question and deconstruct his relationship with his identity. These works explore intergenerational transmission, cultural heritage and the notion of leaving a trace.

Website : marwansekkat.art
Photo credit: Taken during a Jano Lapin residency by Chris Mackenzie

sonia reboul

Sonia Reboul is a French-Canadian multidisciplinary artist based in Tiohtià:ke/Montreal. For for 12 years, she has developed a body of self-taught art alongside a career in Communications. In 2019, she will begin a Bachelor of Fine Arts at Concordia University to further perfect her skills. Since then, her artistic projects have multiplied: she has won three university scholarships selected for residencies and exhibitions at the Centre d’art Jacques-et-Michel-Auger (Carré 150), La Centrale Galerie Powerhouse, Art Matters, Art Souterrain, Galerie VAV, Nouaisons, Université de Montréal. His drawings have been selected for several initiatives, including the COVID collection organized by Sale Caractère, l’Organe magazine. Various blogs (Jano Lapin, Yellow Pad Sessions, The Unicorn Factory, The Soul Food).

Project description

Dialogues stem from the exploration of traditional weaving techniques with fine metal chains sourced from second-hand costume jewellery. 

These pieces of jewellery have undergone a transformation akin to a ritual tribute to the people who wore them: first washed, dried and then dismantled, the links are reassembled into chains classified by size and colour, then woven to form small rectangular samples.

These chains, which have already had a first life, symbolize multiple personal histories and the diversity of human bonds. The dialogue between materials illustrates the complexity of relationships, fluctuating between flexibility and rigidity, strength and fragility, preciousness and banality. The slippery and elusive nature of the chain emphasizes the subtleties of human interaction. Beyond the ornamental, Dialogues conjures a metaphorical chain mail armour, evoking social interactions in times of confinement. Crafted from inexpensive jewellery, the work questions the value of human bonds in the context of disposable consumer culture, highlighting neglected social and ecological aspects. The piece also has a social and local dimension, as the materials were sourced from Le Chaînon store, whose mandate has been to help women in difficulty since its inception in 1932. In all, over $400 worth of jewellery was purchased from the welfare association.

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This project was presented in a solo exhibition at La Centrale Galerie Powerhouse and the Creative Re-use: Ø Waste C.R.Ø.W group exhibition. It was supported by the Fine Arts Student Alliance Grant from Concordia University.

Project status:

To date, a first series of samples has been completed, representing a woven surface area of 3,780cm2 (the equivalent of a 62cm by 62cm patchwork quilt).

My ultimate goal would be to weave a surface area totalling 124cm x 180cm, to be able to assemble them into a large quilt. This would require six times as much material as I currently have in stock. I’d also like to make a full-body cast to serve as a support for the quilt.

More on Dialogues: https://soniareboul.com/Dialogues

Credit photo: Sonia Reboul

zahra buali

Painter, printmaker, sculptor, and ceramist. From the figurative to the abstract, to the mixed media, she works with a multi-layered approach. Zahra is of Arabian/Persian origin and lives and works in Tiohtià:ke/Montréal. She is the founder of Atelier Inana, where she continues to create and teach art. She holds a BFA. from Concordia University 1996, Montreal, Canada, and a B.Sc. from the University of Arizona, 1983, Tucson, Arizona, U.S.A.. She combines mediums and techniques, challenges boundaries, and superimposes layers of form, color, and space. Her work is strongly linked to her constant search for identity, cultural history, and influences. Her artwork is exhibited locally and internationally and is part of public & private collections in Bahrain, Canada, China, Egypt, Iran, France, the K.S.A., Spain, U.A.E., the U.S.A., and the United Kingdom. Some partial list: Shen Zhen Print Museum, Shen Zhen, China, Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Alexandria, Egypt., Almansouria Foundation, Jeddah, K.S.A., & Hozeh Honari, Tehran, Iran.

Zahra participated in various International artist’s residencies, and workshops in Canada, the U.S.A., Spain, China, Jordan, Iran,Bahrain and K.S.A. Her project will consist of 16 works of art and a video installation, around the theme of displacement and re-rooting. At its center are two triptychs: a 3-panel mixed-media mural triptych, and a mixed-media ceramic triptych. The additional 14 pieces are mixed media and paintings, that vary in size from (40 x54cm) to (212 x 102cm). The video, approximately 5-8 minutes, will take the viewer on a visceral journey through the process of destruction of created artwork and re-creation from destruction. 

marc-alain félix

Marc-Alain Félix is a Canadian painter of Haitian origin, living in Tiohtià:ke/Montréal. The artist’s favorite subject is the human being. Through his work, he explores relationships, as well as the issues of our society. He also describes the impact of the influences of popular culture on our daily lives. In his work, he uses bright colors and outrageous strokes. He paints on impulse with an intuitive approach. His work is a fusion of figurative and abstract art, which reflects his imagination and his perceptions of our times. Marc-Alain wants to convey feelings to the public, he wants to give them something to look at that they will remember. Sometimes disproportionate and dynamic, in order to give them a greater expressive intensity, the characters are placed in the foreground in his works. Navigating between reality and imagination, he makes his paintings speak through signs and symbols.

As part of the Alliance program, Marc-Alain Félix aims to improve his communication plan in order to create significant links with future collaborators, such as gallery managers, and curators. In addition, he will be accompanied by the MAI team and a network of partners for project writing and for professional development in the visual arts milieu.

Photo credits: @noiremouliom