Upcoming Exhibitions & Events
SUMMER 2025
Becoming Otherwise
Soheila Esfahani, Jessica Karuhanga, Behnaz Fatemi, Imogen Clendinning, Xi Jin, and Racquel Rowe
Curated by Yijing Li
Exhibition: June 26 – July 10, 2024
Panel Discussion: Thursday, June 26 from 4:30-5:30pm
Reception: Thursday, June 26 from 5:30pm-7pm
artLAB Gallery
How do we unbecome what the world has asked of us?
Becoming Otherwise is not a destination but a process—a call to question what has been imposed, and to imagine new ways of being. Becoming Otherwise brings together the voices of six artists—Soheila Esfahani, Jessica Karuhanga, Imogen Clendinning, Behnaz Fatemi, Xi Jin, and Racquel Rowe—whose works trace ruptures and gestures of resistance woven through the fabric of the everyday. Through acts of disruption, reclamation, and poetic reconfiguration, these artists reimagine identity amidst ongoing legacies of displacement and erasure. Their practices transform personal and collective memory into sites of resistance and renewal, where identity is made, remade, and continuously unfolding.
We are not what they named us
Not in the borders they drew without our voice
We hold our root in the ruin
To unbecome the stories told for us
To gather fragments not as broken
But as constellation
To return
Not to the given
But to the long-forbidden
To our breath
Steady and sovereign
The Digital Fourth Wall
Natasha Beaudoin and Moira Hayes
Exhibition: June 26 – July 10, 2024
Reception: Thursday, June 26 from 5:00pm-7pm
Cohen Commons
“The Digital Fourth Wall” combines the work of MFA candidates Natasha Beaudoin and Moira Hayes. Each artist studies the evolving Gen Z culture that emerges online and penetrates into the real, offline, world. Beaudoin and Hayes’ work meets at the intersection of reality and a generational view through a screen.
Each artist presents a series of portraits, the media traditional, but always with a twist. Through portraiture, the subjects are in direct contact with the fourth wall, be that at a safe distance or uncomfortably close. The scrutiny that exists in the separation of subject and viewer leaves space for the formation of narratives, ultimately providing a different interpretation for any audience.
Natasha Beaudoin is a portrait artist exploring the intersection of classical techniques and digital culture. Rooted in Caravaggio’s dramatic tenebrism, her work merges historical chiaroscuro with the digital glow of screens and modern photographic techniques. By manipulating digital imagery into traditional paintings, Beaudoin investigates online identity, self-representation, and the evolving visual language of Generation Z.
Beaudoin's practice recontextualizes portraiture by fusing spontaneous, screen-sourced images with painterly distortion, referencing social media’s role in shaping authenticity. Using bold colour, oversaturation, and “deep-fried” digital aesthetics, she highlights the tension between presence and absence in contemporary relationships. Inspired by artists Paul Gauguin, Henri Matisse, and Rómulo Celdrán, Beaudoin's work critiques digital superficiality while embracing its visual language.
Moira Hayes is a Canadian artist from London, Ontario. Hayes’ work utilizes a queer lens to explore the intersection of the canon of fine art and the inherent silliness of existence. By combining the historic canon with post-digital media, Hayes poses the question of who determines ‘good’ or ‘bad’ art, and why (or if) the answer matters.
Hayes is the recipient of the Margaret Atkins Award from the Bealart program in London, Ontario, and the Creative Innovator’s of Tomorrow Scholarship from NSCAD University, in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Hayes has work published in Femme Art Review and Found You Magazine, and has shown at The Anna Leonowens Gallery, Good Sport Gallery, and Satellite Project Space. Hayes maintains a residency at Forest City Gallery and is currently an MFA candidate at Western University.
