connecting from the inside out

My-Van Dam is a multidisciplinary artist based in Tiohtiá: ke / Mooniyang / Montréal. She graduated from the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) in visual and media arts and is a member of the CODE BLANC collective alongside artist Stanley Février and Maryam Izadifard. Her artistic practice focuses on the transmission of intergenerational trauma and its multiple physical and psychological impacts. She also explores body memory and the healing processes that foster personal and collective emancipation from oppressive systems. Her current research is rooted in the exploration of somatic theories and practices to propose a vision of care that is interdependent and collaborative.

Dam has exhibited across Quebec, notably as part of the Musée d’Art Actuel/Département des Invisibles (MAADI) at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) (2022) and at the University of Sherbrooke (2021). She has also presented works at the Centre Culturel George Vanier (2024) as part of the POST-INVISIBLE biennial, at the Rad Hourani Foundation (2021), at Place-des-arts de Montréal (2021), Galerie Projet Casa (2022) and at the Art Souterrain festival (2022). She was the recipient of a residency at the SBC galerie d’art contemporain (2023).

Geneviève Wallen is an award-winning independent curator, writer, researcher, workshop facilitator, and mentor. Wallen’s practice is rooted in Tiohtià:ke/Mooniyang (Montréal) and Tkaronto (Toronto) territories. Her curatorial practice, administrative ethics and pedagogy are informed by intersectional feminism, intergenerational dialogues, and BIPOC platforms offering alternatives to neo-liberal care definitions. Her ongoing curatorial explorations include the practice of gift-giving, carving spaces for unfinished thoughts, and musings on the intersection of longevity and pleasure.

Wallen is the creator and animator of the curatorial podcast The Conversations that Carry Us/ Ces conversations qui nous soutiennent, the Exhibition Coordinator at the FOFA Gallery; a member of YTB (Younger Than Beyoncé) Gallery collective; the co-initiator of the thematic dinner series, Souped Up, with Marsya Maharani; an advisory board member for the Centre for the Study of Black Canadian Diaspora at OCAD University, and has joined Vie des arts’ editorial committee. In 2022, Wallen received the Joan Yvonne Lowndes Award from the Canada Council for the Arts and the GOG Awards for Art Writing.

Jeimy Oviedo Quesada
Jeimy graduated in contemporary dance from UQAM in 2014 after studying classical dance at the École Supérieure de Ballet du Québec, and has expanded her artistic language by dancing for the Nyata Nyata company, director Hanna Abdel Nour, Mandoline Hydride with the Danza Descalza collective, and the Tondoa collective. She collaborates with independent artists such as Ariane Dessaulles, Sarah Elola and Laurence Dufour. Exploring diverse artistic languages and creative processes, she works as a performer, actor, rehearsal director, artistic collaborator and choreographer. Her work encompasses contemporary dance, theatrical and performative proposals, as well as traditional Colombian and Afro-descendant dances. A massage therapist since 2015 and in training to become a naturopath, Jeimy is developing a deep understanding of the body and a holistic vision of human relationships.

Moving between sound and performance, Be Heintzman Hope is a facilitator of music, dance and embodiment ritual based between Tio’tia:ke/Mooniyang, colonially known as Montréal and the unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (musquem), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səl̓ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Wateuth) peoples. Their practice bridges dance training with conflict resolution, healing and community arts. They hold workshops in transitional spaces, dance institutions, universities, DIY contexts and festivals that center queer, trans, racialized bodies and sex workers — offering meditation, singing and dance as medicines to those on the front lines of their healing journeys.

Creation : My-Van Dam
Performers : Miranda Chan, Jeimy Oviedo Quesada, Aurélie Ann Figaro et Nicole Jacobs
Curator : Geneviève Wallen
Genderless costume conception and creation : Rad Hourani
Video Design : My-Van Dam
Video Editing : Mirenda Ouellet
Colorization : Marianne Lévesque
Director of Photography : Nadia Louis-Desmarchais
1st Camera and Lighting Assistant : Sandrine Maltais
Somatic Practice director : Be Heintzman Hope
Hairstylist and make-up artist : Estelle Moubarak
Sound Composition : Gabrielle HB
Sound Mixing : Bruno Bélanger

Support for Creation: Centre PRIM, SBC Galerie and Atelier Clark
Equipement Sponsor: SBL Location

Project supported by the Canada Council for the Arts and the Rad Hourani Foundation (RHF).