Symposium: from Brazil to Canada, and in between | Western University
March 6 - 7, 2026 
Organized by Department Chair, Dr. Alena Robin, this 2-day long symposium, “From Brazil to Canada, and in Between,” was planned to coincide with the biggest exhibition of Brazilian art ever held in Canada, "Tropi-x: Brazilian Art in Canada, 1970s – Now," currently on display at Museum London until April 19, 2026. The symposium is guided by three main objectives: create a space for specialists working in Brazilian art in Canada to connect and exchange; reflect on the phenomena of Brazilian diaspora art in Canada, and consider art as a form of knowledge that facilitates intercultural communication and stimulates agency. The symposium will include film screening, performance, and conversation with Brazilian artists working in Canada. Location: JLVAC | Western University
Vibrations from Gaza: Screening and Discussion | Western University
February 23, 2026 | 1:15 PM 
Join us for a screening of Rehab Nazzal’s award-winning documentary film “Vibrations from Gaza” (2023), followed by a panel discussion, moderated by Curator-in-Residence Yan Zhou. Panelists include: Rehab Nazzal, Kirsty Robertson, Sheri Nault, Ma Yongfeng, and Yan Zhou. This is a hybrid event! Location: VAC 249 | Western University and Zoom. This event is free and open to the public.
Diaspora Climate | artLAB Gallery
February 12 - March 5, 2026 
"Diaspora Climate" features the work of Sara Angelucci (Toronto), Teresa Chan (Toronto), Ma Yongfeng (Berlin), and Rehab Nazza and curated by Yan Zhou. This exhibtion brings together diverse climates, cultures, languages, histories, memories, feelings, perspectives, and connections through personal experiences and artistic expressions, linking an affinity with both natural environments and cultural dispositions. Human beings are as sensitive to displacement and transplantation as plants and animals. Diaspora Climate signals the ethical and emotional bonds diasporic people hold with the climatic pressures affecting them both “here” and “there”, including struggles, suffering, and the shared fate of the world and planet Earth. Reception: Thursday, February 12 | 5:00pm - 7:00pm This event is free and open to the public
Dr. Alena Robin Speaks at OCAD University
February 13, 2026 | 1:00pm 
Drawing on extensive curatorial research, Department Chair Alena Robin will present a talk at OCAD University, on "Tropi-X: Brazilian Art in Canada, from the 1970s–Now." This exhibition brings renewed attention to the largest collection of Brazilian art in Canada, housed at Museum London. It currently comprises 31 artworks by 24 artists, including paintings, engravings, textiles, and one woodcarving. This talk will focus on the museum’s collection, how it came to be and when it was donated to the museum. It will furthermore explore the research and the curatorial concept that was developed to reactivate the collection with the objective of increasing knowledge and appreciation about Brazilian art in Canada and the creative work of Brazilian artists living in Canada. Location: OCAD University, 205 Richmond Street West, Room 510. This talk is open to the public.
Art Now! Speakers’ Series: Yan Zhou | Western University
February 12, 2026 | 7:00pm 
Join us for a curatorial talk titled "Behind the Scenes: Diaspora Climate Exhibition" by Curator-in-Residence, Yan Zhou, followed by a guided exhibition tour in the artLAB Gallery. Dr. Yan Zhou is an independent curator, a cross-disciplinary scholar, a poet, and a translator. Her research and curatorial interests focus on contemporary issues in art and cross-cultural art communication, which often involve socially engaged art, art activism, and community-engaged art practice. Location: WIRB 1170 (Western Interdisciplinary Research Building). This event is free and open to the public
Kelly Greene in New Spirit of the Lake Exhibit | Crawford Lake Conservation Area
February 1 – June 28, 2026 
Kelly Greene is featured in Spirit of the Lake, a new Indigenous art exhibition showing at Crawford Lake Conservation Area. This special exhibition celebrates the park’s rare meromictic lake, whose waters and sediments quietly hold centuries of life, memory, and change. From Indigenous perspectives, the lake is alive, carrying the stories of the land and the people who have lived in relationship with it. Kelly was first Indigenous Artist-in-Residence in the Department of Visual Arts and is currently working with the Onkwehonwe Research Environment (ORE) at Western University. Location: Deer Clan Longhouse, Longhouse Village, Crawford Lake Conservation Area
Maxwell Hyett Interim Executive Director | Forest City Gallery
With the recent departure of Executive Director Adi Berardini, Maxwell Hyett steps into the role of Interim Executive Director. Hyett, a part-time lecturer in the Department of Visual Arts, brings a deep familiarity with FCG’s operations, a steadfast commitment to FCG’s mission, and past experience as Programming Chair.
Art Now! Speakers’ Series: Billy Bert Young | Museum London
February 5, 2026 | 7:00pm – 8:30pm 
Join us as local artist Billy Bert Young shares insights into his latest series of paintings created over the past four years and featured in the exhibition “Billy Bert Young: Cloudburst.” Drawing inspiration from nostalgic advertisements, movie posters, children’s book illustrations, and historical prints, Young combines high realism with pop culture and collage to create striking, fantastical, and thought-provoking works. Presented in partnership with the Museum London. Registration is required Pay-what-you-can, suggested donation: $10.00 Free to all students and instructors with valid school ID
Let’s Talk Collections | McIntosh Gallery
February 5, 2026 | 5:30pm - 6:30pm 
After seven months of auditing the collection, Emily Henry, Collections Assistant, and Rachel Deiterding, Curator of Collections and Special Projects, will share an inside look at some of the most interesting and challenging artworks that have been uncovered so far. "Let’s Talk Collections" is a public conversation series that makes visible behind-the-scenes work with the collection, with a focus on the ongoing multi-year collections audit and review. This work will culminate in a collection development plan that will guide the future of the collection. This event is free and open to the public.
Art Now! Speakers’ Series: Gita Hashemi | Western University (hybrid)
January 29, 2026 | 7:00pm 
Join us for an artist talk by Gita Hashemi, followed by a curatorial tour of Hashemi’s exhibition “Grounding: States of Gender” in the artLAB Gallery with curator Soheila Esfahani. Gita Hashemi is a refugee, artist, curator, and writer who works from T’karonto, the "Dish with One Spoon” wampum belt territory, the land of the Anishinaabeg, Haudenosaunee, Huron-Wendat, and the Mississaugas of the Credit. She lives near Wonscotonach River. Her home in Shiraz was near Khoshk River. She works in visual, media and performance art, digital and net art, and language-based art including live embodied writing, as well as in curation and publishing. Location: WIRB 1170 (Western Interdisciplinary Research Building). This event is free and open to the public.
Curator-led Tour of Tropi-X | Museum London
January 29, 2026 | 6:30 – 7:30pm 
Join co-curator Dr. Alena Robin, Department Chair of Visual Arts and Associate Professor of Art History at Western University, and London-based Brazilian-Canadian artist Ian Indiano for an exclusive bilingual tour of "Tropi-X: Brazilian Art in Canada, 1970s" – Now in English and Portuguese. Explore the exhibition’s rich themes, untold stories, and behind-the-scenes creative process as the curator and artist share fascinating details and thought-provoking perspectives that often go unnoticed. This program is perfect for anyone eager to look beyond the surface and engage deeply with the artworks and ideas on display. Registration is required.
Artist in Residence: Andre Maize | McIntosh Gallery
January 19 - February 12, 2026 
Andrew Maize will be in residence in the East Gallery from January 19 to February 12, working to develop his interactive installation, *(s)twerH. Visitors are welcome to chat with Maize as he works and are encouraged to return to see how the project progresses. Maize’s gallery hours: January 28th: 12-4 pm; January 29th: 10am - 2 pm; Friday, January 30: 12 - 4 pm. Visit McIntosh Gallery’s website for more related programming.
New Publication by PhD Candidate Ashar Mobeen
PhD candidate Ashar Mobeen has recently published a research article titled “Toward the Nth Space: Unfixing Spatial Epistemologies” in 'Cultural Studies' (Taylor & Francis). The article develops a critical framework that challenges fixed spatial epistemologies, engaging questions of lived experience, multiplicity, and decolonial approaches to space and knowledge production. The article was published online on January 22, 2026, and is available via Taylor & Francis.
Anahí González and Alena Robin Co-Author Book Chapter
Recent PhD graduate Anahí González and Professor Alena Robin published a chapter entitled "Episodios from Southwestern Ontario: Latin American and Latinx Canadian Visual Arts in London” in a recently published book by Concordia University Press. 'Diffracting the North' is the first book to collect and share the experiences and material realities of Latinx Canadian creators of film, media, and visual arts. Bringing together scholars, filmmakers, curators, and artists from a range of Latin American backgrounds, this publication is a forthright and practitioner-driven reflection on the circumstances of producing and disseminating work in a country of predominantly anglophone and francophone environments.
Grounding: States of Gender | artLAB Gallery
January 9 – 29, 2026 
Curated by Soheila Esfahani, this exhibition features the work of artist Gita Hashemi. Reproducing an Iranian woman’s auto-ethnography in a visually-striking immersive installation, 'Grounding' was created over an 8-day livestreamed durational performance in February 2017. Heralding the global #Me-Too movement and the #WomanLifeFreedom uprising in Iran, in this installation Hashemi puts gender-based violence and disparity – in fact, the very construction of gender itself – in sharp focus and places the audience fully immersed in it. Opening Reception: January 8, 2026 | 4:00pm – 6:00pm
AT THE EDGE: REVOLUTION | Cohen Commons
January 9 – 29, 2026 
This exhibition revolves around the fight for peace in a world filled with conflict. From struggles of individuality amidst rapidly changing political climates to humanity's efforts to make the world a better, kinder place, 'AT THE EDGE: REVOLUTION' provides viewers the opportunity to see the current state of today's world through an artistic lens. Curated by artLAB Gallery Intern Katelyn Halter. Opening Reception: January 8, 2026 | 4:00pm – 6:00pm
Inspiring Minds: Natasha Beaudoin
MFA candidate Natasha Beaudoin is featured in Western's 'Inspiring Minds' showcase. 'Inspiring Minds' seeks to broaden awareness and impact of graduate student research, while enhancing transferable skills. Beaudoin is a portrait artist whose practice explores the intersection of classical painting techniques and contemporary digital culture. Rooted in the dramatic chiaroscuro of Caravaggio, her work fuses historical tenebrism with the artificial glow of screens and the visual language of modern photography.
Centre for Sustainable Curating Publication Wins Two Awards
The risograph-printed catalogue for the exhibition The Air of the Now and Gone, curated by Professor Kirsty Robertson and Sarah E.K. Smith at Carleton University Art Gallery won two awards at the 48th annual Galeries Ontario / Ontario Galleries awards on Dec 1, including Patrick Côté for design and Kristi Leora Gansworth for the essay “Sacred Mirror, Blood of the Earth”. The publication was printed at the Centre for Sustainable Curating using their risograph duplicator.
New Appointment for Postdoctoral Fellow
Dr. Amanda White, former Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Visual Arts at Western University and collaborator of the Centre for Sustainable Curating, has been appointed Canada Chair in Sustainability, Ecological Justice, and Climate Action in Creative Practices at Emily Carr University of Art + Design. Her research program will explore how research-creation can support sustainability and ecological justice and inspire cultural and environmental change.
CBC Interviews Christine Sprengler
Art history Professor Christine Sprengler was interviewed by the CBC last month. 'London Morning' host Andrew Brown posed the question “How much does nostalgia play into our happy holidays?” The discussion expanded into a consideration of how nostalgia works, its pitfalls and therapeutic potential, as well as the role that popular culture plays in the generation of the sentiment.
MFA Candidate Creates Collaborative Mural on Campus
To commemorate their 50th anniversary, The School of Occupational Therapy in the Faculty of Health Sciences recently unveiled a mural in Elborn College that was created by MFA candidate Natasha Beaudoin. The large-scale mural consists of thirty-two 20"x 20” canvases on which Beaudoin sketched and outlined her design. Students participated in a paint night event to fill in the outlines, completing this collaborative mural. Beaudoin describes the artwork as a multi-layer landscape, made up of the sky, the people, and the Earth, all wrapping around into the five threads of learning valued in the occupational therapy program.
CSC in Article by The Economist
The work of the Centre for Sustainable Curating was featured in an article in the November 21 edition of 'The Economist,' written by Lou Stoppard, “Long Read: The Grab List: How Museums Decide What to Save in a Disaster.”
MA Alum Publishes New Book
MA Art History alum Matthew Purvis has recently published 'The Pornographic Delicatessen: Midcentury Montréal’s Erotic Art, Media, and Spaces' with Concordia University Press. According to the publisher, the book "offers an important examination of the development of erotic art and design in the city’s postwar and Quiet Revolution era."
