OUTREACH Online Symposium

Philip Leonard Ocampo (b.1995) is an artist and arts facilitator based in Tkaronto, Canada. Ocampo’s multidisciplinary practice involves painting, sculpture, writing and curatorial projects. Exploring worldbuilding, radical hope and speculative futures, Ocampo’s work embodies a curious cross between magic wonder and the nostalgic imaginary. Following the tangents, histories and canons of popular culture, Ocampo is interested in how unearthing cultural zeitgeists of past / current times may therefore serve as catalysts for broader conversations about lived experiences; personal, collective, diasporic, etc.

He holds a BFA in Integrated Media (DPXA) from OCAD University (2018) and is currently a Programming Coordinator at Xpace Cultural Centre and one of the four founding co-directors of Hearth, an artist-run collective based in the city.

Holly Chang is a Toronto based artist, researcher, curator and photographer. She often works within the medium of photography to unpack the layered emotional nuances that are present with a mixed identity. Chang, as a second-generation Chinese Canadian, often working with her family and community to explore the topic of her hybrid background and how her work can meaningfully contribute to the dialog around these topics.

Joshua Vettivelu (they/them) is an artist working within sculpture, video, and installation. Their work investigates how language and interpersonal relationships build the material world. Recent and upcoming projects explore the tensions that emerge when personal experiences are mined for state-sponsored art production.

Exhibitions venues of note include the Art Gallery of Ontario, the British Film Institute, Eastern Edge in St. John's Nfld, The Academy of Arts in Prague, the Canadian Gay and Lesbian Archives Gallery, The Center for Contemproary Art Glasgow, Niagara Arts Center, Nuit Blanche Toronto (and more). Their work is included in multiple private and public collections, including a public installation in St. Michael's Hospital's St. Jamestown Clinic. Vettivelu has been invited to speak at Cornell University, University of Toronto, York University,  University of British Columbia, the Parliamentary Standing Committee, alongside multiple grassroots community platforms.

Robyn Zolnai completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts with Honours at York University in 2008. From 2010 to 2012 she attended Ryerson University where she obtained a Master of Arts in Photographic Preservation and Collections Management. Robyn is currently the associate director at the Stephen Bulger Gallery, and a guest lecturer on collecting photography and career development for emerging photographers at various high schools, colleges, and universities in Ontario.

Emilie Croning (lives and works in Toronto) is an independent curator, artist, and art historian of Middle Eastern and Afro-Caribbean descent. Her work explores issues and systems around representation and identity as they relate to visual language and diasporic narratives, working at the intersections of feminist theories and post-colonialism. Her practice is grounded in creating space and advocating for emerging artists in a global context. She is the co-founder of Artfully Yours Collective and has recently joined the Art Gallery of Ontario as Curatorial Assistant, Arts of Global Africa & the Diaspora.

Her recent curatorial projects include, Jorian Charlton: Out of Many (Art Gallery of Ontario, and Online (Gallery TPW, 2021), Colour Love (Cry Baby Gallery, 2020), Handle With Care (The Gladstone Hotel, 2020), a love ethic (The Gladstone Hotel, 2019).

Dainesha Nugent-Palache (b. Toronto, ON.) holds a BFA from Ontario College of Art and Design University (2016) where she was the recipient of The Dorothy Hoover Research Award, and an OCAD University Photography Faculty and Friends Award. Her work has been exhibited Nationally through venues such as Patel Brown, the National Gallery of Canada, The Portrait Gallery of Canada, Prefix Institute of Contemporary Art, Gallery TPW, the Art Gallery of Ontario, and TRUCK Contemporary, and internationally in New York, Finland, and Vienna. Her work can be found in The Wedge Collection, Toronto Dominion Bank Art Collection, EQ Bank Art collection, as well as several private collections. Nugent-Palache was a 2021 recipient of the Scotia Bank New Generation Photography Award. She currently lives and works in Toronto, ON. and is a founding member of Toronto artist collective and gallery the plumb. 

Through her performative video works and photographs, Toronto-based artist Dainesha Nugent-Palache explores the dichotomies and paradoxes inherent in representations of Afro-Caribbean femininities. Dainesha’s artwork flirts with anthropological and archeological realms, often produced as a result of her familial digging. Her practice is concerned with visualizations of Black diaspora across pasts, presents, and speculative futures, producing portraits and other still life-based works. With an exuberant approach to colour and display, Daineshas work often negotiates with forms of glamour, excess, and other photographic strategies inherent to the visual cultures of capitalism.