Effervescence

Ali Rodriguez-Beaudoin

Ali’s work merges research in archival processes, photography, and audiovisual installation to explore issues of cultural identity and the history embedded within her social environment, as expressed through photography. Through her art, she invites viewers into a broad intercultural dialogue. In 2019, Ali embarked on her first archival project using a collection of photographs from her maternal family, originally from northern Canada. This project, which involved reprinting the images on handmade Japanese paper using the photogravure technique, sparked her interest in reinterpreting stories. From that point onward, she dedicated her practice to the exploration of photographic archives. Her connection to the world of images began in childhood, as she grew up surrounded by the work of her father, Mexican photographer José Ángel Rodríguez. With the knowledge that her father’s extensive archive will one day be passed down to her, Ali began the meticulous work of digitizing, cataloging, and preserving his collection. Together, they collaborate to examine and imagine new ways of interpreting the stories within his photographs. Ali holds a degree in visual arts from Concordia University in Montreal. Currently based in Sudbury, Ontario, she frequently travels to San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, where she continues to work on preserving her father’s archive and developing creative projects inspired by this work. She also collaborates with the Bats’i Lab project, through which she helped curate Chiapas and Mexico: 30 Years After the EZLN Uprising. This project has been exhibited at San Ildefonso College in Mexico City, the Espacio Mexico of the Cultural Institute of Mexico in Montreal, and La Enseñanza, Casa de la Ciudad, in San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas. These collective experiences have inspired Ali to continue developing a critical artistic language through art and imagery.

Artist Profile

Connor Lafortune

Connor Lafortune is from Dokis First Nation on Robinson Huron Treaty territory of 1850 in Northeastern Ontario. He works primarily in Life Promotion, harm-reduction, mental health, and Indigenous education. He completed his Bachelor’s Degree at Nipissing University with a Double Honors Major in Indigenous Studies and Gender Equality and Social Justice. He is currently in the Masters in Indigenous Relations at Laurentian University. Connor is Anishinaabek, Queer, and Francophone; he uses his understanding of the world to shape his creations as a writer, spoken word poet, and musician. Connor often combines the written word with traditional Indigenous beadwork and sewing to recreate the stories of colonization, showcase resilience, and imagine a new future. He recently released a single in collaboration with Juno Award winner G.R. Gritt titled “Qui crie au loup? ft. Connor Lafortune.” He is currently co-editing A Thousand Tiny Awakenings with Lindsay Mayhew through Latitude 46 Publishing. Above all else, Connor is an activist, a shkaabewis (helper), and a compassionate human being.

Artist Profile

Isak Vaillancourt

Isak Vaillancourt is an award-winning director and multidisciplinary artist of Somali-French ancestry, whose practice includes photography, filmmaking, and arts-based programming. As a creative, he relies on dynamic and vibrant imagery to explore the entanglement of identity and aesthetics from a lens of Black healing and decolonization. Through the unapologetic use of creativity* he recognizes that we can construct our own liberation through cultural creation. Isak’s documentary films have been featured in regional, national and international festivals. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours, Cum laude) in Communication Studies from Laurentian University. Recently, he completed his Masters of Arts in Media Production at Toronto Metropolitan University where he explored race relations, advanced production, immersive technology, and visual culture within a social-justice framework. He is the proud recipient of an Ontario Arts Council New Works grant, OUTtv Award in Master of Arts in Media Production, Aditya Jha Graduate Award in Media Production, Black Graduate Student Scholarship & Ryerson Graduate Fellowship. Isak is also a Co-Founder and Director of Black Lives Matter - Sudbury, a non-profit organization committed to dismantling systemic racism and supporting cultural creation in Northern Ontario.

Artist Profile

Myths and Mirrors Community Arts

Since 1996, Myths and Mirrors Community Arts has provided unique opportunities for people of all ages and backgrounds to experience and take part in the arts outside of mainstream settings. Our goals have been to create innovative art, to engender a sense of community identity, and most importantly, to provide a forum for those made marginalized to express themselves. Everyone is welcome to imagine and create community with us. Myths & Mirrors Community Arts Collective: 1. abena 2. Anonymous 3. Y. Ahab 4. Sam Barry 5. Raven Debassige 6. Ra’anaa Yaminah Ekundayo 7. Jayden Ode’imin 8. Rylee Peltier 9. Harsha Shakyawar 10. Cora-Rae Silk 11. Rihkee Strapp 12. Isak Vaillancourt Primary Photographer: Isak Vaillancourt Assistant Photographer: Krishna Patel

Artist Profile

Ra'anaa Yaminah Ekundayo

Ra’anaa Yaminah Ekundayo is an emerging multimedia visual activist scholar whose practice extends between Tiohtià:ke (Montreal, QC) and N’Swakamok (Sudbury, ON). Their work explores the intersection of art and activism, particularly contemplating the entanglement of Black identity, community, and futurity. Co-founder and Chair of Black Lives Matter Sudbury, Ra’anaa strives for an active decolonization of every facet of their life, supporting calls to defund the police, abolish the prison industrial complex, and for liberation in our lifetime. They have taken on many leadership roles, as an artist, activist and academic, creating space for people of colour and continually promoting anti-racist practices and social justice. Ra’anaa is impassioned by community-engaged art and the notion that art should be inherently accessible. A Black queer cultural curator, Ra’anaa holds a master’s degree in architecture and is currently pursuing their SSHRC-funded doctorate in art history at Concordia University. Ra’anaa is a 2022 STEPS Public Art CreateSpace Artist-in-Residence, a 2022-23 Barry Pashak Social Justice Graduate Fellow, and a 2023-24 Wildseed Centre for Art and Activism Black Arts Fellow.

Artist Profile