Our Students

MFA candidate Alessandra Abballe is an interdisciplinary artist living and working in Tkaronto/Toronto, the traditional and ancestral territory of the Anishinaabe, including Mississaugas of the Credit, Chippewa, Haudenosaunee, and Wendat peoples. Their work explores notions of identity and belonging, specifically in relation to queer and feminist perspectives, and often investigates hegemonic structures through the process of research and making. Rooted in photography, Abballe’s practice includes archival and vernacular imagery, video, text, textiles and needlework. They hold a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography Studies from Toronto Metropolitan University and have exhibited nationally, including in Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival and Capture Photography Festival.

Andrew Presutto is a Toronto(ish) illustrator, educator. He studied Illustration at Sheridan College, where he graduated with honours in 2019. He has since been a practicing illustrator for editorial clients as well as visuals for young adult fictional literature. Andrew is keen on the importance of Arts in Education. He is an Ontario Certified Educator who holds a Bachelor of Education degree from York University. Andrew’s work is interdisciplinary. He finds inspiration through introspection and exploratory deep dives about the natural world and the human mind. He loves combing graphic shape with intricate texture, contrasting colours, and bridging traditional and digital media. He regularly finds inspiration in abstraction, landscapes, biology, queer artistry, classical mythology, and ancient history.

MFA candidate Andria Keen (she/her) is a graduate of OCAD University’s Cross-Disciplinary Life Studies program and the recipient of their 2023 Bluma Appel Award.Consumed by how and why we exist, Andria’s often labour-intensive work engages themes of temporality, cyclicality, and inclusion of the natural world by utilizing abstraction, figuration, and narrative to question our perspectives and place in relation to nature, ourselves and how we inhabit deep-time, both past and future.

Asma Sultana is an interdisciplinary artist. She has participated in many solo and group exhibitions in many countries, and featured in print and digital media in Canada, Bangladesh, and India, as well as CBCArts. Her works are in private collections, including the Saatchi Gallery, Alliance Française, France, and the Art Gallery of Mississauga. In her diasporic identity, she is Bangladeshi-British and working in Toronto. She has been trained in Fine Arts and Art History in Bangladesh, England, and Canada. To conceptualise her autobiographical work, she uses her hair and thumbprints as her media to explore her identity in time and space.

Bisma Jay (they/them) is a queer and nonbinary multimedia artist with a BFA in Photography from OCAD University. Bisma’s work delves into the intersection of identity, socio-economic issues, and cultural narratives. Through their art, Bisma aims to elevate and create nuanced representation of queer and trans BIPOC individuals living in the diaspora. Their work is a testament to their dedication to social justice and representation, offering a lens into the complex layers of contemporary existence. In their spare time, they like to create videos for social media, designs clothes, and tattooing for fun. Find their work at bismajay.ca or on @bisma_jayy

Colin Arthurs is a Canada-born interdisciplinary artist of British heritage based in Toronto, Ontario. Receiving an Honours Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts from York University in 2024, Arthurs’ work centres around two key themes: The public exploration and critique of social and political practices, both contemporary and historical, within Canada and the private exploration of ancestry, lineage, and colonialism through intergenerational trauma, and how these concepts manifest themselves in everyday life. Crossing several mediums, including photography, printmaking, painting, and sculpture, Arthurs’ work draws heavily on the works and symbols of 18th–20th century Western artists to generate sardonic, political-based works which centre around the contemporary Canadian ethos.

Heather Rattray is a queer, neurodivergent photographer born in Vancouver, British Columbia. They live and work between Vancouver and Toronto, Ontario, and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Ryerson University School of Image Arts in 2019. Their work is primarily lens-based, blending image with text to create multidimensional pieces involving themes of identity, childhood, self-exploration and connection to the natural world. They have exhibited work in both group and solo shows on a local and international scale, and won an Honourable Mention for the Burtynsky Grant in 2019 for their self published book “98 Ways to Say ‘Very Good’”.

MFA candidate Jasmine Yangqingqing Yu is an artist and writer based in Nanjing and Toronto. Through reiteration, digression and obfuscation, her works inspect the designation of functionality in the built environment, and anticipates its improper interactions, leakages, and glitches, evoking underlying links and alternative modes of cohabitation.

Jenny (Hyemin) Kim is a mixed media artist. She graduated with a BFA in Studio Art and a BA in Psychology at McMaster University. She continues her practice and research as a Research Assistant of the Sari-Sari Xchange, a SSHRC/RDGI sponsored project. Born in Korea, raised in the Philippines and working in Canada, Jenny explores concepts relating to her experience living in various cultural backgrounds. Through her practice, Jenny critically engages in concepts of diaspora, critical race theory and intersectionality based on her lived experiences.

Jules D. Mills (they/them/theirs) is a practicing interdisciplinary artist and arts organizer of settler decent raised on Treaty 6 territories in Saskatchewan. In 2016 they received their BFA from Emily Carr University of Art and Design in ‘Vancouver’.

Their work investigates and invents new takes on historical and mythical gendered performance through parody, movement, costume, sculpture, and video. Mills has exhibited work within Canada and internationally. In 2018 they were an artist in residence at the Banff Centre for the Arts and Creativity. Mills is co-organizer of the mobile curatorial project Number 3 Gallery.

Laleh Saramiforoshani is an Iranian artist now residing in Toronto. Immigrating to Canada provided her with the opportunity to immerse herself fully in art. She enrolled in the Fine Art Studio program at Centennial College and later graduated with a BFA from OCAD University. Laleh’s life has been associated with war, social upheaval, and protests, and she aims to use her work to speak out against injustice and be a voice for the oppressed. Her work spans oil, sculpture, performance, and installation, drawing upon Iranian ancient symbolism and cultural elements to create a contemporary visual narrative. Her main focus is on socio-political events, with a particular emphasis on the water crisis in Iran, highlighting its connection to broader social and environmental issues.

Ostoro Pethagoose (they/them) received their BA in English, Creative Writing and Visual Art from the University of Windsor, and are a graduate of the Goldsmithing and Silversmithing program at Georgian College. Ostoro is Nishinaabe of Atikameksheng Anishnawbek and of European descent, born and raised at Waawiiye’adinong (the place where the river bends – Windsor, Ontario.) They are a two-spirit/queer writer, goldsmith and multi-media artist working in sculpture, painting, illustration, experimental sound, poetry, short stories. beading and fibre. Their work explores the intersections and complexities regarding Nishnaabemwin, land, community, our kin beyond humans, and the urgent climate crisis.

MFA candidate Paria Shahverdi was born in Tehran, Iran. She graduated from the Fine Art University in Tehran and immigrated to Canada in 2004. Her drawings have been shown in the Annual Drawing Exhibition, John B. Aird Gallery in Toronto. Her mixed-media works have been exhibited in solo shows in 2016 and 218, and she was honored to receive a grant from the Ontario Art Council in 2017. Her exhibitions received recognition through CBC radio and CBC television interviews. Her artwork has shown in Canada and Iran. She graduated with her second degree—a BFA from York University last year.

Doctoral candidate Sara Mozafari-Lorestani is an interdisciplinary artist and designer born and raised in Tehran, Iran. With a BA in Architectural Design from the University of Toronto and an MFA in Interdisciplinary Art, Media, and Design, her art is intricately woven into the country’s narrative, shaped by the consequences of the Islamic Revolution, encompassing women and ethnic and religious minorities’ struggles, political oppression, and the shadow of the Iran-Iraq War. Guided by an autobiographical and research-creation approach, and as an immigrant woman, her artistic work and research delve into the correlations of traumatic memories, body politics, and socio-spatial relations in a diasporic feminist context.

Shannon Garden-Smith (she/her) is an uninvited settler of Scottish, Irish, and British heritage and an artist based in Tkaronto/Toronto, Canada. She is a PhD student in Visual Art and previously earned an MFA at the University of Guelph (2017) and Honours BA at the University of Toronto (2012). Working in sculpture, installation and expanded photo practice, Garden-Smith has exhibited nationally and internationally and is an artist collaborator with Patel Brown (Tkaronto/Toronto, ON).  Her work has been exhibited at the Art Museum, University of Toronto (Tkaronto/Toronto, ON), The Bows (Mohkínstsis/Calgary, AB), Franz Kaka (Tkaronto/Toronto, ON), Gallery TPW (Tkaronto/Toronto, ON), Pumice Raft (Tkaronto/Toronto, ON), TIER: The Institute for Endotic Research (Berlin) and more.

MFA candidate Vladimir Kanic is the creator of living algae sculptures that use spectators’ breath as food and convert it into oxygen while mitigating the effects of climate change. His worldbuilding practice imagines living algae sculptures as beacons of decarbonised future, where social and climate justice are collaborative public acts as essential as breathing.Vladimir’s living sculptures have been exhibited throughout Canada and featured on TED talk platform. Vladimir graduated OCAD University as the Governor General’s Academic Medal and Sir Edmund Walker Award recipient along with Newcomer Arts Award, Artist Project Emerging Artist Award, and InterAccess Media Prize. See his portfolio at www.VladimirKanic.com or on Instagram @VladdKanic