Tyra Maria Trono is a filipina artist based in Montreal. Her work deals with personal themes such as individual identity and her direct social communities. It’s connected in a system of meaning that deals with the idea of the revival of childhood and the continual discovery of personal identity which encompasses the notion of her culture heritage. Themes of nostalgia, autobiography, and identity are often explored in her photography.
Tyra Maria Trono is currently a third-year photography student at Concordia University. She has previously exhibited work at several galleries around Montreal, most notably Le Livart (3980 St Denis) in 2018. She has also co-curated the first edition of Festival du Nouveau Cinema: Spotlight on Concordia University Fine Arts.
In 2017, she founded a photo collective called “For the Sake of Analog” alongside Edson Niebla Rogil and John Mendoza. Their mandate is to exhibit the richness and diversity represented by emerging POC artists through the medium of analog photography. Last year, the collective was part of the programming for the Mural Festival. Currently, they are working on their first photo book coming out in April 2020.
Outside her artistic practice, Trono has photographed for projects and events for Boiler Room, Moonshine, Lez Spread The Word, Éklectik Média, The Woman Power and Never Was Your Average.
Trono is also involved with the Filipino Organization of Concordia Students. After a hiatus of over 10 years, the club returned in 2019. The club’s mandate is to connect students, celebrate Filipino identity, and challenge issues that touch Filipino youth. Currently, she is working on a variety show and art exhibition, titled Show Pao, which will feature local Filipino artists.
Trono will also be facilitating an exhibition for the 20th anniversary of Art Matters. The exhibition, As to be Told investigates the ways in which stories can be articulated through artworks and how we translate personal or collective notions through narrative forms.
As to be Told will be open at Galerie Luz (372 Ste. Catherine St. W, suite 41) from March 17 to 21, with a vernissage on March 18, from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.
From globalisation to self care, the shirt covers it all
From FASA grants for individualized projects, to student run exhibitions at the VAV Gallery and the Art Matters festival, Concordia fine arts students are given many opportunities to showcase their work annually. Student work of all mediums, and touching upon a broad range of issues is included; nothing is left unaccounted for.
Among these are the works of Elisabeth Perrault, Petro Psillos and Camille Charbonneau, student artists who work in a variety of mediums but share some common political and material ground.
These three student artists have used shirts as the medium for their messages.
Perrault’s untitled piece, exhibited during Relics.jpeg, at the VAV Gallery from Oct. 1 to 19, is a very large button-down shirt with printed motifs, made entirely by hand. The exhibition was curated based on material engagement according to the VAV’s curatorial statement, “relating to one another in their physicality and their ingenuity in the exploration of materials.”
Perrault’s work merged her skills in textile, fibre and design with screen printing processes to summarise the history of labour exploitation in the textile and fashion industries. “The image is made up of a young American girl in the 1900s. Through her, we can perceive actors exploited in their workforce,” said Perrault. “A shirt is a universal garment that most people have at home. A unisex garment that has no identifiable identity. It’s a reminder of how our everyday clothes are made.”
The transparency of the material is for emphasis of the voluntary blindness of our society in the face of this ethical problem,” the artist said.
Perrault’s design, choice of fabric, buttons and screen printed image encourage consumers to divest from fast fashion, reflecting the past and present of the clothing industry.
Similarly, painting and drawing student, Petro Psillos, created another large t-shirt made out of smaller, identical ones. “War (1991) is part of an ongoing series of authority-related t-shirt installations and sculptures,” said Psillos, who sewed four promotional t-shirts worn by Cineplex employees (himself included), to depict Ricardo Trogi’s recent film, 1991.
“Because I work at Cineplex Laval, I had to wear this shirt as part of my uniform for a month straight,” explained the artist. “During that time, the shirt got butter stains, popcorn oil stains, sweat, tears, rips… I started to think about how the employees of the cinema behave like a community, and how we’re all working together towards the end-goal of a corporation, but also developing skills and techniques, relationships and habits.”
Both Perrault and Psillos’s pieces critique contemporary consumption and labour exploitation by using the shirt as a medium.
“Since we look all the same wearing the same t-shirts, we are easy to group as one entity. To the outside customers […] we look all the same, without personality, not individual, not unique.” said Psillos. His work—exhibited as part of Art Matters during Sites of Embodied Silence at the VAV Gallery—uses the relatability of the shirt to confront viewers, increasing the typical size of the garment to create a wall, a physical obstacle to navigate in the gallery space.
War 1991, Petro Psillos in Sites of Embodied Silence at the VAV Gallery during the Art Matters festival. Photo courtesy of Art Matters.
For War (1991), Psillos intended to connect the exchange between business and culture as a testament to Quebec’s shrinking national identity. He saw this as a parallel to the way Cineplex and other corporations impose authority over their employees, especially through language control within immigrant communities enforced by Bill 101 and 115.
In both cases, I am stripped of my individuality and expected to submit to another person’s perspective,” said the artist.
Through the film it represents, to its colour and wear, War (1991) contains powerful references to escapism, globalization and bloodshed. Buttery popcorn stains allude to the dispute of oil and its production, and the size and name of the piece refer to the then recent demolition of the Berlin wall.
As a global symbol, the shirt can also be intensely personalized. Camille Charbonneau’s performance piece, 1 Corinthians 6:19, conceives the body as something that is borrowed, to be confined to a gender binary, and something to be hidden.
The piece, exhibited during Art Matters, consists of garments lined with beads. “While worn, the beaded sentence ‘YOUR BODY IS A TEMPLE’ found in the shirt, on the in-sole of the shoes, and inside the knees of the pants is imprinted on the skin through pressure,” explained Charbonneau. “The use of the shirt, and of the other pieces of clothing in the project, stand as a symbol of oppression […] the emphasis put on the body being ‘a’ temple instead of ‘your’ temple limits someone’s well-being to a singular way of applying care to a body, and for gender non-conforming individuals, that care involves removing the shirt, and letting the wounds heal.”
The biblical passage 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 reads, “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore, honour God with your bodies.”
Physical care, clothing restrictions and overall behavior enforced by social norms compiled with critiques on globalization, consumption, violence and politics are embedded in these artists’ respective works. As an often mundane object, the shirt embodies all of this, and proves to be a symbol of Concordia’s 2018-19 art scene.
In its 19th year, Art Matters is the largest student run, non-profit art festival in North America. Every year, Art Matters selects curators for 10 exhibitions, who are then tasked with selecting up to 10 artists to complete their exhibition. This year, the festival began on March 2 during Nuit Blanche, with an ephemeral, outdoor exhibition at the Darling Foundry’s Place Publique. Would You Bury Me? was curated by Megan K. Quigley and featured eight multidisciplinary artists whose work questioned the act of saying “no.”
The suffocating, impractical desire to name is a weekly radio show that will be hosting a live performance event on March 15 from 6 to 10 p.m. Tune in to CIBL 101.5 on March 11, 19 and 26 at 6 p.m. to listen to nine works selected by the show’s curator, Emily Sirota.
Sous nos souffles // Vulnerability Lingers will feature the work of seven artists, surrounding ideas of touch. Curated by Tina Lê and Éloïse Joubert, the exhibition is open until March 17 at Galerie POPOP in the Belgo Building.
Opening on March 7 at NOMADNation, Interface takes its inspiration from the emergence of software development with the Jacquard loom. The exhibition includes a satellite exhibition at the Concordia Webster Library Visualization Studio on Thursdays from 3:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. until March 26.
The first week of the festival ends with a special, double vernissage on Friday, March 8 from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. At Espace POP, porpos asks viewers to question the purpose behind the nine artworks exhibited and at the Rialto Theatre, Digital Dreams / I’ll dream about this someday considers the digital era’s ability to absorb visual information.
Opening on March 10 at Studio XX, In search of delicious features the works of seven artists who search for pleasure, satisfaction, well-being and care.
At Espace 8, students Nina Molto and Louise Campion have curated Look at what you made me do, an exhibition that looks at popular culture’s meme society and the relationship between images and text. The vernissage is on March 20 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
With a vernissage on March 22 at 6 p.m., MALAISE shines light on how women’s bodies and feminine power are “demonized” in today’s society, through explorations of gender, the bizarre, and feelings of unease.
And finally, from March 11 to 22, in collaboration with Art Souterrain and the VAV Gallery, Sites of Embodied Silence questions the political nature of silence and censorship in this era of resistance.
For more information about Art Matters’s events and exhibitions, consult @artmattersfestival on Facebook or artmattersfestival.org.
The VAV Gallery and Art Matters shine a spotlight on black history
The personal and the political, the individual and the communal, the historic and the contemporary are all explored and considered within Hyper Real. In a collaboration between the VAV Gallery and Art Matters, the month of November has welcomed a range of events related to contemporary black art. With an interdisciplinary art exhibition, a film screening and a healing workshop led by Sisters In Motion and Shanice Nicole, these events celebrate November as a month of black history.
As stated by the VAV Gallery in their description of the three events, Black History Month in February can leave artists overworked and with a lack of support and exposure during the rest of the year. The VAV and Art Matters hope to change this by making November a month to celebrate the work of artists of colour and provide a platform for exploration, creativity and healing.
Made up of a range of complex and dynamic artworks from nine of Concordia’s undergraduate artists of colour, the work featured in Hyper Real ranges from video and photography to painting, print and sculptural installation. Each work explores a distinct theme within the overarching focus of black culture, identity and history. The varied works play into each other, creating a full, dynamic and overall emotional exhibition.
Artworks on display included a diptych by David Durham, titled Hidden Figures. The two works mix acrylic paint, mixed media collage and coffee to create striking images of two ambiguous figures. The paintings find ties to the history of coffee and the significant role it played in the slave trade and colonization. With the continued presence and consumption of coffee today, the works acknowledge this history, while also considering its role and presence in the contemporary world.
Braids, by artist Theran Sativa consists of a series of woodcut and and wood burned prints on stained paper. As explained in the artist’s statement, Sativa, who specializes in print media and fibres work, looks at black identity and black culture while also incorporating her own experiences. Meaning is found in every aspect of the artwork—the artist draws a connection between the intricate process of printmaking and the act of braiding or twisting hair, through the time and care spent on both practices.
Part of David Durham’s dyptich, Hidden Figures. Photo by Mackenzie Lad.
printed by Theran Sativa, Braids explores the artists specialisation in printmaking in relation her her own, personal experiences. Photo by Mackenzie Lad.
Daniel Itiose exhibited two hyper realist paintings from a series titled Catharsis. Photo by Mackenzie Lad.
Karl O. Ndebele’s photographs welcome viewers into Hyper Real. Photo by Mackenzie Lad.
Lousiane Fozin’s digital piece is one of several multimedia works featured in the exhibition. Photo by Mackenzie Lad.
On Nov. 22, in connection with Cinema Politica, Hyper Real also hosted a film screening as part of the Black History Month. This screening featured three films, all directed by women of colour: Black Men Loving by Ella Cooper, Yellow Fever by Ng’endo Mukii, and Ninth Floor by Mina Shum.
The screening began with Black Men Loving, a film that questions the typical representations of black fatherhood while talking to black Canadian fathers. Made invisible by these negative representations, this film and the fathers featured can reclaim the stereotypes often placed on black men by society.
Yellow Fever incorporates mediums of poetry, dance and movement to address ideal beauty standards for women, specifically those related to colonialism. Colonialist history and actions perpetrate these ideals, particularly those of skin-lightening and hair-straightening.
The feature documentary film, Ninth Floor, looks at the anti-racist protest of 1969 at Concordia (then Sir George Williams University). The film highlights the ties still present between the protest and the contemporary context of the racist allegations made towards the university by splicing footage of the event with recent interviews.
As part of the VAV and Art Matters Hyper Real event series, the He(art) Healing Workshop scheduled for Nov. 29 will be led by Sisters In Motion and Shanice Nicole, a feminist educator, writer and spoken-word artist. The workshop will provide a safe space for people of colour, women and femme-identifying people to share their stories and heal. It is open to everyone, however priority will be given to black students, with 15 spaces reserved specifically for BIPOC students.
The He(art) Healing Workshop will take place in the VAV Gallery on Nov. 29, from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Spots are limited. Those interested can register online.
Hyper Real will be exhibited in the VAV Gallery until Nov. 30. The gallery is open between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. from Monday to Friday.
Studio 7 is an experimental platform for young artists to show their work offered by the Department of Contemporary Dance at Concordia and is located on the seventh floor of the MB building. This “plurydisciplinary” space encourages students working in all mediums to apply to present and rediscover their work through the lens of movement and interaction with an audience.
The VAV gallery is now accepting submissions for their winter 2019 general programming and special exhibitions. Special exhibitions include the VAVxCUCCR Reuse Residency as well as one strictly featuring performance art. The gallery is open to any type of performance with any materials or tools, and encourages artists working in any media to apply.
This year, Art Matters is seeking artists for 10 exhibitions taking place during the festival in March 2019. Curatorial themes range from the unconventional, communication, duality, text, sovereignty, materiality, interactivity, “arte-utile,” dreams, silence and embodiment. Artists can submit up to two applications, solo or in small groups of five members at most.
The InARTE Journal is a student-run online publication dedicated to promoting visual art and culture in art education. For issue 09, students from all fine arts departments are encouraged to submit visual and written work (creative, academic or pedagogical) surrounding ideas of how emotions resonate in art-making in and outside of the classroom. The submission deadline is Dec. 14 at 5 p.m.
Festival showcases colourful and innovative submissions from our students
The artistic genius of Concordia’s undergraduate community is set to be featured in the 15th edition of the university’s Art Matters festival. The student-run festival embraces diversity and showcases the talent of our students through a variety of media, including painting, photography, sculpture, dance, video, design and creative writing.
In addition to promoting and galvanizing budding artists, the festival also provides them with some “real life” experience, as they work closely with curators and other art community figures to assemble and display their work.
The expansive and all-encompassing festival takes place over the course of two weeks in March, displaying work at venues scattered around the city. Not only are there vernissages and live performances to attend, the festival boasts a number of lecture series and workshops that are open to the public.
The full calendar of events and their descriptions is available on the Art Matters website (artmattersfestival.org) though here is a preview of some of the events that the Concordia community can expect as the festival unfolds.
Opening Party @ Theatre Plaza (March 6)
A number of electro/funk/garage rock musical acts are expected to perform at the opening party, as well as an appearance by the intriguing “League of Lady Wrestlers of Montreal.” More performers and details TBA.
Intimacy: Limits and Consequences @ Galerie Yellow Fish Art (March 7)
This exhibition will examine how interaction and sentiment have changed with the development of technology and a digital sense of distance. The gallery’s description says that “working with themes varying from HIV to representation to religion, the artists showcased illustrate the limits and consequences of intimacy in our day and age.”
Oppression Aesthetics @ Galerie VAV (March 9)
Using powerful, engaged images, this exhibit “addresses questions of social issues, feminism and gender, cultural identity, propaganda, environmentalism, and historical conflicts through a variety of approaches and mediums.” It is meant to incite reactions in the viewing public, and inspire action.
An Evening of Alchemy @ Loyola Chapel (March 19)
This seems to be the wildcard event, with an ambiguous description that states the event will test the boundaries between artist and audience, working with time as a constraint. No idea what to expect—take a chance.
After 12 years of growth, Concordia’s Art Matters festival has broken out of the hallways, past the downtown campus, and into galleries all over the city. Over 120 Montreal-based artists are going to be showing off their pieces during the two-week festival that kicks off this Friday.
The festival has now expanded to various boroughs and one of the first things the Art Matters team did for this year’s edition was secure venues. This led to the festival spreading out over St-Henri, downtown, the Plateau and the Mile End.
“We have an apartment gallery, and one show is happening in the back of a truck,” mentioned the festival’s outreach coordinator, Vivien Leung.
Not much is known about this event, called Vehicular Commodities, other than that the truck will appear, and that wine and cheese will be served when it does. Leung explained that artists “sometimes want to be a bit more down-low about [their project,] which is part of the whole feel of what they’re trying to create, so that’s why sometimes there’s less information.”
For the first time, Art Matters will have an open house weekend starting Friday, March 9. There will be events and artist talks all over the city. Leung said the idea for the open house is to encourage people to see multiple shows in one day. “Each show on top of the open house will have their own vernissage,” Leung added.
Another first for this year is a speaker series called Art of Survival, happening on Sunday, March 4. It will feature artists from different backgrounds talking about how to make it in the ever-changing art industry.
During its two week run, the festival will feature a variety of exhibits, such as My Pregnant Pre-Teen Birthday Vacation with Dad (curated by Nafisa Kaptownwala), a show about transitioning from one age group to another and how time can change our view of past experiences. Kaptownwala described her show as “art being able to encompass a moment visually.” She also said “I want the audience to feel like they’re walking into someone’s space, like they’re understanding their life […] but also just for people to relate.”
In another exhibit, an artist has contributed portraits of all the men she’s had relationships with in the past year—drawn in lipstick. It makes the show not only about memories, but according to Leung, “very tongue-in-cheek.”
A show called Three Times (3 X 7 X 52 X y), curated by Zoë Wonfor, will have free food every night. “[Wonfor] really wants to create this warm, almost dinner-table atmosphere,” Leung said,
Wonfor, who spent 18 hours looking through artwork before deciding what she wanted to include in Three Times, said, “I feel extremely fortunate to have selected the artists I have and couldn’t be happier with the ultimate direction of my show. […] I want people to come hungry, and to leave satiated.”
On March 11, in the Mile End, curator Aditi Ohri will take people through a series of artists talks and neighborhood tours in the exhibition walking tour, Ohri will take people through public and retail spaces in the area—such as vintage shops, cafés and bookstores.
The Art Matters festival seeks to give students the kind of real-world experience that they won’t get in a classroom—and it’s more than just fine arts students who have benefited. “We’ll sometimes call out, for instance, to the creative writing program which is part of Arts and Science. And one of our executives this year is a JMSB student. We’re not just fine arts,” said Leung.
Art Matters will kick everything off with an opening party at The Darling Foundry (745 Ottawa St.) on Friday, March 2. It’s open to everyone and will feature local bands, art installations and dancing under the glow of video projections.
Art Matters runs from March 2 to 16. Exhibitions are free. Opening night party is $6 in advance, and $10 at the door.For more information, visit http://artmattersfestival.org or @ArtMattersFest on Twitter.
