📅Exhibition Dates : Jan 19 – 28 2024
⏰Mon-Fri 7:30 am - 8:00 pm | Sat 8:30 am - 6:00 pm | Sun 12:00pm - 8:00 pm
📍Location: 100 McCaul St ,OCADU Lobby, Toronto
Dying. is an exhibit where the world of art, culture, and end-of-life in contemporary times collide. It invites the audience to re-evaluate their relationship with life and death. Existentialism is explored through varied art forms with a focus on the realms of fragility, death, dying, loss, and grief. Our mission is to change the narrative around Dying. by using heart-level dialogue and participatory art to empower the public to think about death as part of the human experience. Dying. is in fact about living, living with the human experience of dying; What aren’t we talking about? What matters at end-of-life? Bringing together perspectives from families, caregivers, clinicians, and research to spark public conversation through community creation and interactive experiences. Let’s get comfortable with the uncomfortable.
Dying. is an event series ran in conjunction with DesignTO, with collaborators from Death, Dying & Design, and the Health Design Studio at OCADU.
Dying. is an event series ran in conjunction with DesignTO, with collaborators from Death, Dying & Design, and the Health Design Studio at OCADU.
Featuring Artists and Designers
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Chad Eby creates work, by turns stark and whimsical, that explores people’s fraught relationship with made objects and technological processes.
Eby is a Lexington Kentucky-based multidisciplinary artist, designer and educator working with light, sound and code to engage with the grain of digital technologies. Part of the faculty of University of Kentucky's School of Art and Visual Studies, Chad's work has been shown at the Tekniska Museet in Stockholm, Sweden, Generative Art in Rome, Italy, New Media Fest in Valencia, Spain, CICA in Gimpo, South Korea, the Columbia College Center for Book and Paper, the Studio 300 Biennale at Transylvania University, and various local venues across the United States. He has attended competitive residencies at the Atlantic Center for the Arts, Elsewhere, and was selected for the inaugural Space Art Summer School hosted by the Russian Museum of Cosmonautics. |
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Dr. Ellen SampsonDr Sampson is an Assistant Professor in the School of Design at Northumbria University. She is an artist and material culture researcher who uses film, photography, performance and writing, to explore the relationships between bodies, and things both in museums and archives and in everyday life. Her current research projects include Wearable Objects/Curative Things (with Dr. Fiona Johnstone , Durham, and Dr. Dawn Woolley, and Dr Paula Chambers, LAU) examining the relationship between medical humanities, fashion research and visual arts practice (book, Palgrave Macmillan, 2023); Enclothed Knowledges (with Dr. Ben Barry, The New School) which explores the role of practice-based research in Fashion Studies and The Afterlives of Clothes which explores the power of damaged garments in museum collections; Her monograph Worn: Footwear , Attachment and the Affects of Wear was published by Bloomsbury in December 202
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Emma DucharmeEmma Ducharme is a Tkarón:to based multidisciplinary artist. Ducharme graduated with a BFA in Drawing & Painting from OCAD University in 2021, and recently presented works in the Untapped section at the Artist Project, at the Latcham Art Centre, and at the Art Gallery of Hamilton. Her work seeks to expand perspectives on identity beyond merely the representational, specifically as she learns to navigate her own identity as a queer woman. Her practice is a space for questioning and disruption; exploring the tumultuous nature of emotion & grief contradictory to capitalist consumer culture rooted in weaponized emotional ignorance. Through her playful use of colour and stern materiality, Ducharme invites a larger questioning on the illusory nature of life and being; on the ways in which what we see is not always what it seems.
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Based in Tkaronto/Toronto, Eric Chengyang (they/he) integrates storytelling with visual arts by using historical archives, museum collections, and hybrid media. Coming from a multilingual Chinese-Canadian background, Eric’s works explore the themes of symbiotic duality and paradox, with a focus on the intersections and proximity between the East and the West while challenging the conventional notion of the East-West Dichotomy. Their recent projects examine these themes by intersecting visual, literary, vernacular, and programming languages.
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Fariba Kalantari is a visual artist. She has a PhD in cell biology from McGill University and has been a research scientist at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, NYC and McGill University Health Centre, Montreal. She is a self-educated artist working primarily with ink and acrylic, and has exhibited in several solo and group shows. She has been the recipient of artist grants from Canada Council for the Arts and Ontario Arts Council. In addition to private collections, her work has been acquired by the Art Bank collection of the Canada Council for the Arts. She lives in Ottawa, Ontario, and online at faribakalantari.com.
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Prof. Ghislaine BoddingtonGhislaine Boddington is Creative Director of body>data>space (BDS Creative Ltd) and a Professor at the University of Greenwich. Working as a director, curator, and commissioner with the body and technologies since the early 1990s, she has led on innovations in arts / creative industry technological links and is recognised internationally as an expert on digital intimacy and connected experiences, with an extensive network of creatives globally. Ghislaine was awarded the IX Immersion Experience Visionary Pioneer Award by Society for Arts and Technology (SAT Montreal) in 2017 in recognition of her long term work on embodied immersion. She has keynoted on her work on the living body as the digital interaction canvas in 35 countries across the last 4 decades. She works as a programme creator and expert commentator for the BBC and is a Trustee of the Stemettes.
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Hannah BusseHannah Busse is a Toronto-based artist with a BFA in Sculpture and Installation from OCAD University. She explores her love of nature by engaging with themes of ecology, the impact of humans on the environment and the need to reduce, reuse and recycle. She uses found, donated, reclaimed and repurposed materials along with natural components to encourage in-depth reflections and discussions about personal consumption and environmental change.
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The Health Design Studio works to bring an inclusive and interdisciplinary design approach to healthcare design challenges. Drawing upon long-standing collaborative partnerships with healthcare partners, the Health Design Studio supports researchers to develop designs to support health transitions, supportive and inclusive design techniques, and exemplary design with an emphasis on knowledge dissemination and mobilization. Much of our work focuses on design for safety critical and high sensitivity topics, including communication at end of life, harm reduction tools, building capacity and resilience for co-design in health, and inclusive COVID-19 information.
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Exploring the relationship between image, material and how art is made serves as the foundation of my artistic practice. Predominately a painter (acrylic on
chipboard), I am beginning to explore linoblock printmaking and am interested in the similarities and differences of both mediums. A graduate of the University of Windsor, I live in Tecumseh, Ontario. I have shown my work in many juried and solo shows across Canada. |
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Joanna is an OCADU graduate (2009). She returned to OCADU through the Photography & Friends residency program and as a TA in 2011. Joanna’s fine artwork typically features surrealist imagery combined with light-hearted emotional themes. Her work has been on display in over 30 exhibitions, published in 23 books, newspapers and magazines and has won several awards. Since 2010 Joanna has been working as a freelance photographer and arts curator, having success in grant writing and project management. Joanna has run many programs and exhibitions in Toronto and the GTA both for her own personal work and for other organizations. She has a proven track record of program planning, delivery and evaluation of for-profit corporations and non-profit community arts programs. A creative strategist who thinks outside of the box to execute excellent, well-organized projects and programs in person and online.
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Jordan PedersenJordan Pedersen is an interdisciplinary artist living in Guelph, Ontario. Usually working on a small scale, she uses textiles, watercolours, paper, bookmaking, printmaking and sculptural elements to create work that people can touch and engage with. Her work consistently comes back to themes of practice, labour, and the joy of recognizing relationships and patterns.
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Jun WangJun Wang, a graduate of the Central Academy of Fine Arts and Harbin Normal University, is an innovative artist who intertwines traditional Chinese cultural elements with contemporary social themes. His work, deeply influenced by his MA in Fine Arts and extensive teaching experience, showcases a profound understanding of cultural interplay in modern society. Jun has participated in numerous exhibitions, both internationally and in China, bringing unique perspectives to the table. His diverse background includes a role as an art director in Beijing, a painting teacher at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, and a gallery assistant in Canada. Wang’s artistry not only reflects his academic prowess but also his engagement with various cultures, making his work particularly relevant in today’s globalized society.
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Karen OikonenKaren Oikonen is a design researcher and service designer, specializing in participatory and co-creative approaches to better understand the complexities of the human experience within environments, systems, networks, and communities, with the goal of creating positive change for people. Having lost her dad to cancer in 2010, she is dedicated to creating opportunities for reflection, discussion and engagement on death and dying in public spaces. She co-founded the Dying. series, has collaborated on multiple participatory installations, and serves as a Principal Innovation Designer at The Moment, an innovation consultancy in Toronto. Karen holds a Master of Design, Strategic Foresight and Innovation from OCAD University.
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Kate Hale WilkesKate Wilkes is a service designer and one-half of the team at October Systems, a research and design studio based in Toronto. Passionate about meaningful collaboration, Kate is always keen for opportunities to leverage diverse perspectives to make sense of complex problems in pursuit of impactful solutions. Kate studied at the University of Toronto, George Brown College's Institute without Boundaries, and the Dun Laoghaire Institute Of Art, Design + Technology in Ireland. Kate’s interest in the death, dying, and the end of life period is rooted in her own experience navigating her mother’s illness and death in 2015.
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Narges PorsandekhialNarges Porsandekhial (she/her) is a Persian multidisciplinary artist who holds an MFA degree from the University of Saskatchewan. She primarily works in installation, socially engaged practices, public art, and text-based work. Her work deals with the repetition of daily life activities, while focusing on conceptual and social practices, mental health issues, and institutional critique from time to time.
Narges strives to make art that addresses everyone in its commonality, engenders feelings of belonging, of the communal, and ultimately, if successful acts therapeutic. This overt intention to enact an ethics of care within her artistic practice is rooted in her desire for connection at a time of displacement and disruption. She believes that art is not a luxurious object for a specific group of people and it’s the element of storytelling that invites a broad audience to the work. |
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Negar Devine-TajgardanNégar Devine-Tajgardan is a Saskatoon-based visual artist with a special interest in sculpture, installation art, and photography. Tajgardan created works based on her memories of coming to Canada from Iran and broader concepts of immigration, displacement and other social concerns. Tajgardan’s research also probes into the social and political issues with her personal and family ties with it. Tajgardan’s sculptural works have a craft quality that investigates the domestic aspect of life through her own personal experiences growing up. Tajgardan studied Sculpture at the University of Tehran, Iran and She completed her MFA degree at the University of Saskatchewan.
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Niya Ahmed Abdullah
Niya Ahmed Abdullahi is a Multi-disciplinary Artist, Technologist and the founder of @Habasooda, a collective dedicated to sharing the richness of the Muslim experience through a variety of storytelling avenues. Her work has been exhibited at Nuit Blanche Toronto, TIFF Next Wave, Black Film Festival Zurich, Gallery 44, Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival, Eastern Edge Gallery, amongst others. She was a 2021 Hot Docs Accelerator Fellow and currently sits on the Advisory committee for the Nia Centre of the Arts BLACKOUT project and the City of Toronto’s ArtworksTO program. Her work evokes memory, both past, present and future, in connection with diasporic experiences, and ancestral awakenings. Pillars of resistance are drawn through her divine labour of love.
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Sadia AwanSadia AWAN (she/ they) is a queer transdisciplinary artist whose practice traverses many realms, including the virtual and energetic. Recently, they completed a residency at Eastern Bloc Gallery in Montreal, QC culminating in an exhibition entitled "-and it's just because I love you". A self-taught New Media artist, they produced a solo exhibition for Nuit Blanche TO in 2022, performing under the stage name Drrr!p. AWAN's work is rooted in themes of hybridization and presence, explored primarily through installation, video, sound, and sculpture. They utilize intentionality as praxis and aesthetics as a necessity within their creative expression, reflecting an ongoing meditation on the existential human experience.
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Reflection Room Team at SE Research CentreFor 8 years, the Reflection Room research study and project have been collaborative efforts facilitated by SE Research Centre members and the Saint Elizabeth Foundation. The Reflection Room provides a place for storytelling and reading of stories about dying, death and grief. Collaborators from public and health care organizations across Canada have installed more than 300 Reflection Rooms.
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Sketch Night and Luz PaczkaSketch Night is a community-driven initiative that provides a space for individuals to explore their creativity – whether it is through sketching, music, knitting, or any creative practice – while enjoying the company of others. Luz Paczka is a health designer who works both in academic and community settings in projects that explore the intersections between mental health, immigration, and environmental sustainability. This partnership surged from the interest in addressing grief as a taboo topic in everyday life, through a creative and community-driven setting.
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Dr. Stacey PitsilidiesDr. Pitsilides is an Assistant Professor in the School of Design at Northumbria University. Her research into death, creativity and technology, has been explored through a series of publications, and a body of practice, including the Death Positive Library: Love After Death. With collaborators from hospices, festivals, libraries, scientists, and galleries. This practice research has been commissioned and installed during NESTA’s FutureFest, London Design Week, the ESRC Festival of Social Science and the eCommemoration Convention, Design Zentrum Hamburg, among others. She is an honorary research fellow for the Centre for Death and Society (CDAS), University of Bath and is an elected member for the Council of the Association for the Study of Death and Society (ASDS).
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Tadej VindišTadej Vindiš is a Lecturer in Creative Technologies at Westminster School of Arts of the University of Westminster in London (UK). Working across the creative industries, technology, media, cultural studies, politics, and contemporary arts, he is particularly interested in the fields of virtual immersion, digital simulation, and artificial intelligence, investigating their cultural implication and disruption. He is a Lead Producer of body>data>space, an East London digital design agency, where he has produced and developed projects in partnerships with Innovate UK (UK Research and Innovation), Nesta Innovation Foundation, British Council, Deutsche Bank, Arts Council England, EUNIC London, and Imogen Heap, amongst others. Most recently, he co-curated KIBLIX International Festival of Arts, Science and Technology (2020-2021), focusing on the theme of Virtual Worlds Now.
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Tommy FeilerTommy Feiler, a native of Welland, Ontario, embarked on an artistic journey that defied the industrial backdrop of his hometown. Without formal art education in his early years, Feiler's encounter with a Duane Michaels book was a decisive moment that steered his path towards photography, showing him the power of images to tell stories and evoke emotions. Feiler's lens-based artistry reveals the extraordinary within the ordinary, pushing observers to find beauty and narrative in the everyday.
After earning an MFA from OCAD and immersing himself in the BAiR Residency in Banff, Feiler returned to Metropolitan University and Sheridan College, not as a student but as a mentor. Teaching became a mirror, reflecting and introspecting his creative process. Post-MFA, Feiler resolved to bring his work from under his bed to the public eye. He has since graced the art scene with his presence, participating in group exhibitions at Leslie Grove Gallery in November 2022, Gallery 1313 in early 2023, and Blitz Gallery, where he showcased his work twice in the same year. Feiler was also part of the TORONTO ARTIST PROJECT at the Better Living Centre in April 2023. His art marries the simplicity of everyday items with provocative text and invites laughter and contemplation, challenging the viewer to reassess visual communication. Through his exhibitions and teaching, Feiler continues to illuminate the profound in the mundane, making the familiar unexpected. |
