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New Voices
ACWR is happy to announce the beginning of our new program: New Voices  New Voices is our new...

ACWR is happy to announce the beginning of our new program: New Voices 

New Voices is our new 6 x 6-foot billboard located on the external wall of ArtSpeak gallery, right on the alleyway. The billboard, which features interchangeable letters, offers the possibility to showcase text-based exhibitions and experimental poetry installations. The focus of this program is to provide an outlet for underrepresented and marginalized voices in our community, including new generation artists, newcomer artists, artists of colour, indigenous artists, artists with disabilities, francophone artists, and 2SLGBTQ+ communities. The pilot program started in July 15th 2021 and showcased the work of five local artists from diverse backgrounds: Alexei Ungurenaşu, Jude Abu Zaineh, Luke Maddaford, Ostoro Petahtegoose and Anna Daliza.

In October of 2021 an open call to select four artists for the first semester of 2022 was made. Proposals from all over Canada were received and the jury* selected the works of Chidera Ikewibe, Tenzin Dorjé, Jade Wallace, and Mahlet Cuff. Their work will be installed in the billboard between January 15th and May 15th.
* The jury was composed by ACWR staff members Kaitlyn Karns and Alejandro Tamayo, and three artists from the pilot program: Jude Abu Zaineh, Alexei Ungurenaşu, and Ostoro Petahtegoose.

in July 2022, thanks to a grant received from My Main Street Community Activator program, the New Voices Community Arts Residency was initiated. Please visit the residency page for more information.

2022

  • Vanguard Youth Arts Collective

    July 15th, 2022 – August 15th, 2022

    Artist Statement:

    In June the Vanguard Youth Arts Collective produced a workshop called Breaking Waves for local high school students that combined text and visual art based practices as a means of inspiring the next generation of multidisciplinary artists. We made connections to narrative based art through drumming, storytelling, poetry sharing & analysis, as well as creative exploration of mixed media materials.

    Just as we were able to find links between text and visuals during the workshop, our inspiration for the billboard installation emerged when we began to draw parallels between artists and nature. ‘Breaking Waves’ uses a collection of action verbs to present those parallels to the public. By changing the placement of letters and modifying the spelling of words we are able to emulate the actions that are being spelled out and in a way, illustrating them with the alphabet as our medium. Combining this use of traditional writing and public art allows us to tell the story of what an artist can become, while also giving the viewer the opportunity to decide what that may look like from their perspective.

    Bio:

    Vanguard Youth Arts Collective are a group of creatively driven youth who act as a voice for an emerging generation of the arts within the Windsor Essex region. We are currently a team of 9 volunteers with experience in visual art, writing, music, performance, education, mental health advocacy, community based art projects, and public art. We nurture creative development by fostering connections within the community to develop, facilitate and support arts programming including Mess Fest (2019), The 100 Journals Project (2019), The West End Art Project (2020), Beyond Borders Workshop Series, and the Sundays in the Studio Program at Art Windsor-Essex. We have participated and volunteered with other organizations in the region including United Way and Trans Wellness Ontario. Vanguard has been the recipient of multiple grants through RBC Foundation, Windsor Endowment for the Arts and the Arts Culture Heritage Fund to produce workshops, zines, and our first physical publication of the Spot On! Artist Interview Series that is slated for release by the end of 2022.

  • Derrick Carl Biso

    June 15th, 2022- July 15th, 2022

    Derrick Carl B. New Voices installationi

    Artist Statement:

    BI GAY LESBIAN TRANS & QUEER / WE HAVE & WILL ALWAYS EXIST HERE

    “We should fight hate and the dissemination of ignorance and fear with the effective use of history and fact. Ideology cannot stand it when we make connections.”
    Felix Gonzalez-Torres1

    It’s hard to have collective memory when so many who were “there” are not “here” to say what happened.”
    Sarah Schulman2

    The intent of this text-based installation is to highlight the undeniable presence of 2SLGBTQIA+ people in our past, present, and future. Although the words we use to describe ourselves may be different, our shared experience of being queer can unite us. We have a lineage of those who came before, and so many who are still ever yet to come.

    The content of this installation is drawn from the research done by local educator Walter Cassidy and the regional timeline of 2SLGBTQIA+ history that is published on the Windsor-Essex Pride Fest website. To learn more about each date that was included, and many more, visit https://www.wepridefest.com/wehistorytimeline/

    The format of the content is inspired by Felix Gonzalez-Torres and his photostats series. As an homage to the artist, this billboard provides a suggestive list of references, naming layers of history, which we may remember or forget.

    PRIVATE 1842 refers to what is referred to as Canada’s first documented conviction of “homosexual sex between two consenting adults”. Both are assumed to have been stationed with the regiment at Fort Malden at this time. They were tried and convicted in the Sandwich town court. The text from the Western Harold issue of August 12th, 1842 reads “Samuel Moore and Patrick Kelly, Sodomy, to be executed on 15th day of July next”. Their sentence was changed to life in prison, and both men were released prior to their deaths. 

    I thought this date was an important place to start because the history of moralizing and criminalization of sexual relations, gender identity, and gender expression that has been experienced by the 2SLGBTQIA+ community is linked directly to the colonization by European militaries and monarchies. Prior to colonization, many Indigenous Nations included and honoured sexual and gender diversity – including having special names and roles. 

    ETNA’S 1964 refers to the first bathhouse raid that happened in Canada, at Etna’s Steam Bath on Brant Street in Windsor. The raid resulted in nine men, Canadians and Americans, being charged as ‘found-ins’. The owner was charged with keeping a bawdy house and was sentenced to a year in prison. The raid did not result in the closure of the bathhouse, it remained in operation under a new name, Vesuvio, until 2009. 

    The date was chosen as it is representational of the criminalization of sex and sexuality, and police violence targeting the 2SLGBTQ+ community in Canada. Police raids on bathhouses number at least 38 between the period of 1968-2004 according to Historian Tom Hooper. And these raids are only one example of how police and state institutions, like the court and prison systems, have oppressed 2SLGBTQIA+ peoples. The story of Etna’s Steam Bath, and its successor Vesuvio, is important as it speaks to the resilience and pride of 2SLGBTQIA+ community members in the face of state violence and oppression. 

    GAY DANCE 1973 refers to the story of how the local newspaper, the Windsor Star, rejected and refused to publish an ad from the group Windsor Gay Unity to advertise their dance. The dance was organized locally as part of a national Pride Week event in Canada. The ad read, “gay dance FRIDAY FEB.9 8:30 P.M. ALUMNI LOUNGE UNIVERSITY CENTRE U. of WINDSOR”. The group, WGU, challenged the decision successfully, but the Windsor Star continued to refuse to publish the ads. The issue was not resolved until 1979. 

    This date was chosen as it speaks to the hostile social climate and bigotry that was much more commonplace during that time. As well as this story highlights the way that media, such as newspapers, are not neutral; that they are political. The story of the gay dance ad is important because it showcases dynamics of power, and how even when we are right justice may not come without our continued determination and pressure to make it happen. 

    JOHN 1977 refers to the first Gay Rights protest in Windsor. The protest was in support of John Damien, who had been fired by the Ontario Racing Commission because of his sexual orientation. He filed a wrongful dismissal suit and sought punitive damages. John Damien’s case was supported by Toronto Gay Alliance Toward Equality, the Coalition for Gay Rights in Ontario and other activists. His case was settled out of court, and his activism did help bring about the inclusion of Sexual Orientation in the Ontario Human Rights Code in 1986.

    I chose this date to bring awareness to this important local story, and the people who helped bring about changes to provincial laws and Human Rights protections in Ontario based on sexual orientation. Windsor has a prominent place in the 2SLGBTQ+ history of the province, in particular because of the activism and organizing of the people here. 

    GET USED TO IT 1992 refers to the theme of the first Lesbian and Gay Pride Day. The celebration was held at J.B.’s Restaurant & Bar, and included a parade, dance, bar-b-que, dunk tank, volleyball, and a pageant. The event was hosted by Windsor Pride, which was founded that year. It was attended by a couple hundred people and did receive official declaration of support from Windsor City Council. J.B.’s Restaurant & Bar was located at 1880 Wyandotte St E, and is where the O’Maggio’s Kildare House is now. 

    This date was chosen for its natural importance as an inaugural year for both the organization Windsor Pride (which has since then developed into two separate entities – Windsor Pride Community and Windsor-Essex Pride Fest) and the Pride parade. It also is of importance as this year is the 30th anniversary of the Pride festival and parade. The festival has grown from being a small march of a couple hundred people to a weeklong celebration attracting thousands to people, with the continued aim of promoting equality and welcoming diversity in our community for the 2SLGBTQIA+ persons and people. 

    OUTSHINE 2017 refers to what was that year an International GSA Conference hosted in Windsor called OUTShine. OUTShine is a national Gay Straight Alliance conference created and hosted by Egale Canada. The conference brings together students, educations, and service providers to developing stronger GSAs, inclusion in schools, and celebrating 2SLGBTQ+ people and communities. When the event was hosted in Windsor in 2017, Americans from Detroit and the surrounding area were invited, as well as attendees from England, New Zealand, and Australia. The conference was attended by hundreds of students and educators.  

    I chose this date because it was a catalyst event for those who attended, I among them. Local organizations like Windsor Pride Community, Run for Rocky, and the Greater Essex County District School Board GSA for Staff worked with Egale to plan the conference. Local 2SLGBTQIA+ youth and our allies were recruited as Youth Ambassadors to serve as peer-leaders to help guide and support the students who attended. I met young 2SLGBTQIA+ people from across the country and around the world. Some fond memories include dancing in my red sequin dress as the room erupted to Lady Gaga’s anthem Born This Way, and singing along with the entire room to Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody – lead by a chorus line of students from Walkerville Collegiate. Relationships were established here that have continued and grown since then. These sorts of engagements are so important for students and educators, and really everyone in our communities, to help build and develop welcoming and affirming communities for all 2SLGBTQIA+ persons and people. 

    LOOKING BACK LOOKING FORWARD 2022 refers to an exhibition of artworks on display at Art Windsor-Essex (former Art Gallery of Windsor) until September 2022. This exhibition has a regional focus of artists who lived and worked in Southern Ontario (from Toronto to Windsor) who are also identified as a member of 2SLGBTQIA+ community. Looking Back Looking Forward features artworks that are in the Collection of Art-Windsor Essex. 

    I chose this date because I want you to go see the exhibition. I curated Looking Back Looking Forward when I worked at Art Windsor-Essex as the Special Initiative Coordinator (2020-2021). The show includes works that have been made during the early part of the 20th century to the early part of the 21st century, and the range in style, techniques, and materials is indicative of the diversity and plurality of experiences of being 2SLGBTQIA+ in the region. Each artist’s life is full of stories that can help us better understand what the recent past was like for 2SLGBTQIA+ people. The exhibition also includes a hand-painted timeline by local artist Julia Hall, which also features important dates from the timeline published on the Windsor-Essex Pride Fest website and created by Walter Cassidy. I think it is so important that we know our history so we can better understand our present, and also help shape our future.
    ________________
    1) Felix Gonzalez-Torres. 1990: L.A., The Gold Field
    2)  Sarah Schulman. The Gentrification of the Mind

    Listen to Derrick discuss their New Voices work here.

    Bio:

    Mx. Derrick Carl Biso uses they/them/their pronouns exclusively. They labour as an artist, community organizer, educator, graphic designer, and philosopher. Derrick Carl is influenced by their experiences as a queer and nonbinary person from rural Prince Edward Island, their education in Philosophy and Diversity and Social Justice Studies from UPEI, and more recently from their time here in downtown Windsor, Ontario. They are particularly interested in aspects of human identity, expressions of creativity and culture, relationships and responsibilities, ethics, the erotic, history, conscientization, and the natural world. Derrick Carl recognizes that our liberation from oppression is a shared struggle that requires solidarity across identity categories. They are currently employed as the Program Administrator and Facilitator with the QLink Windsor-Essex collaborative.

    Derrick Carl extends a special thank you to Alejandro Tamayo for his thoughtful feedback and engagement with the work. It would not have been what it is without you, thank you.

  • Teajai Travis

    May 15th, 2022- June 15th, 2022

    Artist Statement:

    trees remember the sins of a city is a reminder/acknowledgement/warning of nature’s collective memory, and how we are ancestrally connected to both the creation and destruction of our shared environment. The ideals of progress negate the consequences of eco imbalance, and following centuries of environmental disrespect, eco genocide has become normalized in the collective consciousness of humxn habitants, occupying over developed landscapes. “Trees Remember the Sins of a City” performs as a mantra of accountability and cautionary tale concerning disappearing green spaces and what that means for the future of our relations. Trees are connected to a Wood Wide Web (www.) That existed in a world before us and will likely be around long after us.
    Fruit for Thought 😉

    Bio:

    Teajai Travis, the current Executive Director of Artcite Inc., is an Afro/Indigenous descendant of over/underground railroad travellers, and like his ancestors, he is a child of the stars. Charged with an ancestral calling to conjure spells from coded words patterned in heirloom stories, Travis uses rhythmic words patterns in his poetry to carry wor(L)ds from one generation to the next. His practice as a keeper of story is to translate the multi-dimensional axes of energetic language into expressions of rhythmic tapestries that extract periodic elements from constellational landscapes. Travis’ interest in language construction as an ancestral mapping system and the vibrational matter of the spoken word inspire his cosmic investigation into the theory of “As above, also below” and “As within, also without”. His previous works The Madness in My Mind 2007, 7th Realm/Abstract Element 2010, Born Enslaved: A Freedom Story 2016, Growing Up Mixed 2019 and currently 13 Poems reveal a theme of esotericism and a continued interest in the ancestral science of creation. The art of storytelling provides a generational wealth of truth and knowledge but most important – imagination and mystery. Teajai utilizes the utility of his craft to channel the fragmented imprints of his ancestors, lending his voice to their teachings. He considers his work to act as a channel (when chosen) to communicate on behalf of his relations.

  • Mahlet Cuff

    April 15th, 2022 – May 15th, 2022

    Artist Statement:

    The act of being remembered is one that is taken for granted. I have had the opportunity to be able to be in community with other Black queer people, Black queer from the diaspora, etc. I have this understanding as a Black queer person, it is a privilege to have access to people that share space with others that have intersecting identities parallel to one another.  In the years I have been able to be in conversation with others and learn from folks it has come to my knowledge that is not the case for everyone. As well as, even though that some people do have the chance to connect with another there is an erasure of Black queer people in the prairies.

    In “When we are forgotten, who will remember us?” is encouraging the activation of remembering and when those communities are erased what impact does that have on future generations but also the ones living in the present. Although this text has a specific intention about who is being erased, I want the viewer to think of the significance of erasure and how that applies to other communities as well.

    Bio:

    Mahlet Cuff is an emerging interdisciplinary artist and curator producing work through audiovisual storytelling. Using analog and digital photography, found and generated recordings, they explore subjects of healing, memory and collective care to question relationships between kin and the relationship they have with themselves. Cuff draws inspiration from the idea of creating their own worlds, building and rebuilding what it means to generate bonds with one another. Her collaborations as a curator include showcasing work for the Patterns Collective, Vtape, Take Home BIPOC Arts House as well as for the Window Winnipeg exhibition “Joy is more than just a feeling.” Their work has been shown locally and nationally.

  • Jade Wallace

    March 15th, 2022- April 15th, 2022

    Week 1

     

    Week 2

     

    Week 3

     

    Week 4:

    Artist Statement:

    Hello, Traveller provides a radical counterpoint to the typical function of a billboard. Ordinarily,
    a billboard treats its viewer as a consumer —of products, of information, etc. The creator of
    the billboard wants to persuade the viewer to engage in way that the billboard’s creator can
    benefit from. By contrast, the message of Hello, Traveller is an offering to the viewer without
    any expectation of return. It brings tenderness and intimacy into a typically professionalized
    and formulaic public space.

    Like most billboards, the text of Hello, Traveller is dynamic, changing according to a weekly
    schedule. Normally, billboards use this variability to advertise limited-time offers and other
    ephemera. Hello, Traveller, instead, builds a narrative week by week. It offers dynamic
    continuity, creating an ongoing relationship between the viewer and the text.

    Bio:

    Jade Wallace (they/them) is a writer of poetry, fiction, and essays, which have been published or are forthcoming in literary journals across Canada, the USA, England, Ireland, Sweden, New Zealand, and India, including in This Magazine, Canadian Literature, and The Stockholm Review. Wallace is the author of several solo and collaborative chapbooks and their debut full-length poetry collection, Love Is A Place But You Cannot Live There, is forthcoming from Guernica Editions in 2023. Wallace’s work has received support from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, and the City of Windsor, has won the Muriel’s Journey Poetry Prize, Coastal Shelf‘s Funny & Poignant Poetry Contest, and the Anita and Alistair MacLeod Prize, has been a finalist for the Wergle Flomp Humour Poetry Contest and the Writers of the Future Contest, and has been nominated for The Journey Prize. Wallace is currently the reviews editor for CAROUSEL, an organizing member of Draft Reading Series, and a member of The Writers’ Union of Canada and The League of Canadian Poets. Wallace is also the co-founder of the collaborative writing entity MA|DE, whose most recent work, A Trip to the ZZOO (Collusion Books 2020), was shortlisted for the 2021 bpNichol Chapbook Award

  • Tenzin Dorjé

    Feb. 15th, 2022 – March 15th, 2022

    Artist Statement:

    THE WORLD IS YOURS, serves as a playful attempt to strike at the notion of a human-centric and individualistic worldview and instead directs the viewer’s attention to the shared responsibility of all life on earth. The work addresses issues of inequity and environmental degradation that have borne from an emphasis on the individual to possible resolutions that might arise by embracing the commonality and interconnectedness of all life. By displaying the letters on a billboard, the work also challenges the nature of our public spaces which are increasingly dominated by commercial advertisements, influencing the motivations and behaviour of people that inhabit these spaces.

    Bio:

    Tenzin Dorjé (b.1989, Kathmandu, Nepal) is an artist of Tibetan descent currently based in Toronto. His works explore the relationship between people and their built environments, as well as notions of faith, place and memory.
    Dorjé completed an MFA in Documentary Media at Ryerson University in 2021. 

  • Chidera Ikewibe

    Jan. 15th, 2022- Feb. 15th, 2022

    Artist Statement:

    What is the significance of a name? Is it a placeholder? How important are they? In Igbo culture names hold meaning and are often portmanteaus of larger words to convey a new meaning and often embody characteristics parents see or want in their children. My name for example Chidera means: What God has written cannot be changed. While my last name Ikewibe means: We are stronger together. However, as with any translation, meaning is lost along the way and the nuances are lost in English.

    In A(N) P(ART) OF ME!  I aim to explore the meaning of a name and how it can both be a part of oneself and an artistic representation of oneself. Even the sign-off — which is my artist name — is a part of my full name composed of the English translation of two Nsibidi characters. “Chi” means soul and “Ike” means strength which I currently sign all my work under. Names are important even if they do not translate well from one language to another.

    Bio:

    Chidera Ikewibe or CHI.IKE is an Igbo Nigerian Canadian artist and poet whose work often combines her experiences and cultural identity. Her works often incorporate NSIBIDI — an ideographic/pictographic writing system from the south-eastern region of Nigeria. Chidera was the OECTA winner for the senior playwriting competition for 2018 for a play she wrote about the Nigerian Civil War. When she is not making art she can be found listening to Kendrick Lamar, Kojey Radical, Fela and FKA Twigs who she sights as poetic inspirations.

2021

  • 12 Words from 12 Songs

    Dec. 15th, 2021 – Jan. 15th, 2022

    12 Words from 12 Songs was created by the staff of ACWR, Alejandro Tamayo and Kaitlyn Karns. While a holiday-themed message is the perceived go-to around this time, the ACWR staff wanted to find a way to support local artists and specifically, local musicians. At ACWR, all artists from all disciplines are supported and this is just one small way to bring the Windsor- Essex music community into the New Voices project. As an audience member, we encourage you to engage with this word search and with the associated musicians and songs selected. The list of songs is linked below for easy listening and engagement.

    If you are passing by ACWR, we encourage you to take a photo of the installation and complete the word search. The list of words is made of one word from the title of each song found in our New Voices playlist! All of the songs selected are by artists from Windsor-Essex and were released in 2021.

    Words to find are:
    BRIEF, WATER, CAUGHT, SLEEP, WHY, BAY, REALIZE, SUNSHINE, RESPECS, COSMIC, VIRAL, TIME

    New Voices Playlist 

    *Click the track name to listen*!

    Brief Ends– The Bishop Boys 

    Muddy Water– Madeline Doornaert

    Caught in a Cigarette Drag– Humble John

    Losing Sleep– Allesandro

    Why– Crissi Cochrane

    Georgian Bay– Huttch

    Hope You Realize– Mellodraw

    Sunshine– Dane Roberts featuring Lisha Racquelle

    Free Respecs – switchCase

    Cosmic Rhythm – Joy de Bruyn

    Viral Load – Justin James

    And Time Began To Flow– Quiet i

  • Anna Daliza

    November 15th – December 15th, 2021

    Artist Statement:

    Please accept Artist Bio as a self-criticism as much as it is a criticism of the identity politics of contemporary arts culture.

    When I apply for arts funding or write a proposal for an exhibition, in the small space I’m given to bare my soul—usually a text box with a character limit—I am faced with a choice: How much space do I apportion to my art and how much do I devote to my identity?

    Now with funding bodies and exhibition spaces creating unique opportunities for underrepresented and marginalized voices, artists like myself are given priority. But it’s also artists like myself who give in return social cachet to those same financiers. The institutions know, as well as we, that their support of marginalized artists protects them from the scrutiny to which they are typically susceptible. That scrutiny being, they are usually white, capitalist institutions funding the work of white, rich artists.

    The more an artist’s work can distract from the institutions’ support history, the more they are spotlighted. As a result, marginalized artists have begun, though perhaps somewhat unconsciously or as means of survival, to focus the subject of their work on their identity. For example, as a writer who is also Lebanese and Transgender, in the last two years I have not once considered the possibility of writing a story completely separate from either of those identities.

    I admit that I have exploited my own identities for the financial support of capitalist institutions.

    While identity is certainly relevant to some artists’ work, and is often central to my own writing, it does not tell the full story. In most cases, to lead with my identity is the most hollow introduction I could give myself. So, furthermore I would like to reintroduce myself as a writer who is trying to find the words to describe myself and my work.

    Bio:

    Anna Daliza, writer, educator and multidisciplinary artist, was born in Southwestern Ontario to an Anglo-Canadian father and Lebanese mother.

    In Anna’s latest work, Where Grape Leaves Grow, she combines historical non-fiction and her maternal family’s origin story, tracing her religious minority, Maronite Catholics, from their ancestry in Mount Lebanon to their eventual exodus from the Middle-East, finally connecting to her own life and upbringing in Canada.

    Anna is a transgender woman who also works as a model and editorial creative director. Though embracing her identity has at times meant defying her cultural upbringing, her work celebrates the beauty and joy of their unconventional marriage

  • Ostoro Petahtegoose

    October 15th-November 15th, 2021

    Artist Statement: 

    Indigenous identity is joy and humour, not just pain and suffering. For myself, I am reaching for that joy and humour even in learning the language I should have always known my whole life. In Ga-waabmigoo – We’ll see you, I play on a list of of interjections and colloquial expressions found in a Lexicon for Students of Nishnaabemwin by Mary Ann Corbiere to create a light- hearted, one-sided dialogue intended to play on the function of a sign. Learning language and going back to our cultural ways means prioritizing and seeking communal connections with others, and as a beginning learner of Nishnaabemwin, the hopes to connect with others is always there, always waiting, always something to look forward to – and in reference to Luke Maddaford’s “You Can Always Find a Good Time in Windsor,” can be a good time. The journey of reclaiming our languages and identities is a journey of healing, hopefully one that we all will be ready for at some point during our stay here. Giin go – it’s up to you.

    Shtaa haa! Maajaan Nishke!
    Mii go mno-pii Gegeti nnaagaas Giin go

    Holy smokes! Come over here Look!
    That’s a good time I can hardly wait It’s up to you

    You can order a limited edition tote bag of  “Ga-waabmigoo – We’ll see you HERE 

    Bio: 

    Ostoro Petahtegoose is a biracial, Nishinaabe of Atikameksheng Anishnawbek with European descent, born and raised in the traditional territories of the Three Fires Confederacy of First Nations, comprised of the Ojibway, the Odawa, and the Potawatomie, also known in Anishinaabe as Waawiiye’adinong (the place where the river bends – Windsor, Ontario) as just one of its place names. Ostoro is an Indigiqueer, transgender, nonbinary writer, Goldsmith and multi-media artist who goes by “they/them” pronouns. Ostoro is attending the University of Windsor to finish their English and Creative Writing and Visual Arts BA and was the BIPOC Artist in Residence at Artcite in August of 2020. In June 2021 Ostoro was given a grant through the Arts Culture and Heritage Fund to work on a research project on the Indigenous history of Windsor/Essex county to use in an anthology of short ghost stories. In Ostoro’s personal and professional life they continue to work at finding meaningful ways to connect back to their Indigenous identity through the work of building relations and learning their cultural language Nishnaabemwin, all while being obsessed with themes of hauntings, ghosts and land.

  • Luke Maddaford

    September 15th-October 15th, 2021

    Artist Statement:

    Aren’t we all just looking for a good time? Playing into the form and function of the sign, the installation You Can Always Find A Good Time In Windsor rewards the viewer with an interactive experience that encourages new forms of engagement and reminds them that you can always find a good time in Windsor.

    You can order a limited edition tote bag of  “You Can Always Find A Good Time In Windsor” HERE 

    Bio:

    Luke Maddaford is a Canadian artist and curator interested in exploring identity, placemaking, and Queer histories and futures. Much of his current research revolves around regionality and the Queer use of space. He has exhibited throughout Canada and holds a Diploma in Visual Art and Design from Keyano College, a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Drawing from the Alberta College of Art + Design, and a Master of Fine Arts degree in Visual Art from the University of Windsor. He currently lives in Windsor, ON, where he founded LEFT Contemporary and co-edits off centre.

  • Jude Abu Zaineh

    August 15th-September 15th, 2021

    Artist Statement:
    Where do we go from here? أين نذهب من  هنا؟  is a call to action to mobilize collective and community efforts in search for better futures and ways to move forward; to look introspectively on personal measures one can take to improve; and to pause and reflect on the state of current affairs.
    I often ask myself this question when considering the ways my existing and new communities can mutually affect and instill meaningful change in each other.

    Bio: 

    Jude Abu Zaineh is a Palestinian-Canadian interdisciplinary artist and cultural worker. Her practice relies on the use of art, food, and technology to investigate meanings of culture, displacement, diaspora, and belonging. She examines ideals of home and community while working to develop aesthetics rooted in her childhood and upbringing in the Middle East.

    Abu Zaineh is the recipient of the 2020 William and Meredith Saunderson Prizes for Emering Artists, and was one of the first selected artists to participate in a collaborative residency with the Ontario Schience Centre and MOCA Toronto (Canada). She has presented her work nationally and internationally including Cultivamos Cultura, São Luis, Portugal; Museu de Arte, Arquitetura e Tecnologia, Lisbon, Portugal; Centro de Cultura Digital, Mexico City, Mexico; SVA, NYC, USA; Forest City Gallery, London, Canada; Art Gallery of Windsor, Canada; with forthcoming exhibitions at Centre Culturel Canadian, Paris, France; and the Visual Arts Centre of Clarington, Canada.

    Abu Zaineh received an MFA from the University of Windsor (Canada) and is currently pursuing her PhD in Electronic Arts at Rensselar Polytechnic Institute (NY, USA) as a SSHRC Doctoral Fellow. She maintains an active studio practice between upstate NY, USA and Windsor-Essex, Canada.

  • Alexei Ungurenaşu

    July 15th-August 15th, 2021

    Artist Statement:

    With my installation Hold, Twist, Release, I embrace the billboard’s spatial constraints. These are the actions and images that matter the most to me right now; since I can only fit two or three words per line, I carefully picked these words as one would pick flowers for a bouquet. I used the space that was “left” to suggest a story in this poem as well as to mark my temporary presence in this space.

    You can order a limited edition tote bag of  “Hold, Twist, Release” HERE

    Bio: 

    Alex-Andrei “Alexei” Ungurenaşu writes from the perspective of an outsider-become-insider. As a Romanian-Canadian artist living in Windsor, ON, they craft poems, zines, paintings, and collages summoning the various places where they lived and visited. Writing started as a hobby for Alexei, and it eventually led to them becoming Windsor’s youth poet laureate for 2021-23. Alexei draws much inspiration from their studies in literature and philosophy, with existentialism and romanticism serving as direct influences. In their poems, Alexei uses words to bridge the distance – be it physical, emotional, or temporal – between themselves and the places, people, and moments that they miss. When they aren’t reading or writing, Alexei seeks ways of staying involved in the local arts community. They are a member of the Vanguard Youth Arts Collective, and they often run events with the Art Gallery of Windsor and the University of Windsor’s Humanities Research Group.

  • Disappearing message

    June 15th – July 15th, 2021

    With this message the ACWR staff wanted to welcome the beginning of the New Voices program. During the time of the exhibition, letters from the message disappeared gradually, until the billboard became empty and ready for the first artist who was commissioned to develop work for the billboard, Alexei Ungurenaşu.

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    18

 

LIMITED EDITION TOTE BAGS

ORDER LIMITED EDITION TOTE BAGS FROM PAST BILLBOARD EXHIBITS

 

SUPPORT NEW VOICES

SPONSOR THE NEW VOICES PROGRAM

 

Arts Council Windsor & Region