MEET THE 2022 ARTISTS
From February 11-27, 2022, public space across Vancouver’s core will be transformed into an interactive, open-air gallery featuring Augmented Reality (AR) art and light installations by local and international artists–including the UK, New Zealand, Egypt, and the US, plus local artists from Vancouver, Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil Waututh Nations.
VMF’s commitment to diversity and inclusivity is reflected in the strong BIPOC and LGBTQIA2S+ artists in both VMF Winter Arts’ live performance and AR curation. We’re grateful that despite travel limitations, we were able to connect artists–virtually–from around the world to create incredible art to engage our local community.
Meet the artists of VMF Winter Arts 2022!
AR ARTISTS - Being MetaSelf
TAFUI (JAM/CAN)
Tafui is an independent Artist and Designer originally from Xaymaca / Kingston, Jamaica.
Her work spans various media, which includes fine art and product design. She is known for bold black and white abstract, repeating patterns that embellish her work.
Tafui is a VMF 2020 alumni and her work has been exhibited at and is currently being represented by the Ottawa Art Gallery and Vancouver Art Gallery. Tafui holds a D.E.C in studio arts from Dawson College and a B.F.A. in Design Art from Concordia University.
Her work is in national and international collections such the City of Ottawa and the Bank of Jamaica Public Art collection. She currently lives and works in Musqueam/Squamish/Tsleil-Waututh territories / Vancouver, Canada.
MARJAN MOGHADDAM (USA)
Marjan is a political refugee and immigrant from Iran, and lives and works in Brooklyn, where she is a Tenured, Full Professor of CG, Animation, and XR at LIU.
An award-winning and pioneering Digital Artist/Animator, known for her unique style of 3dCG figuration/animation and critical discourse, she is recipient of top awards/grants, exhibited at the Smithsonian and other museums, and created public art commissions in the US and Europe.
She was the Adobe Artist-In-resident in 2019 and was featured in Forbes' Best of AR Art. Her works are held in private, institutional and NFT art collections.
ONESIAN (NZ/MAORI/SAMOAN)
ONESIAN (Maori (Ngati Awa, Ngai Tuhoe), Samoan) is a multi disciplined artist from South Auckland, New Zealand, exploring the notions between digital space and real time through new technological mediums.
With extensive knowledge and expertise, ONESIAN challenges the boundaries of digital space by expanding on the endless possibilities that narrates Indigenous stories and creating dialogues for personal storytelling.
Within each intersecting realm across the technological universes, ONESIAN further employs the re-imagined 3D landscapes sculpted into digital spaces, exploring real time experiences that provoke enriching conversations.
KATRINA IOSIA (NZ/NIUEAN)
Katrina Iosia is a multidisciplinary Niuean artist born and raised in Auckland, New Zealand.
As a sculptor with a materiality-based practice, her works have progressed into technical arts where she has developed expertise in 3D sculpting and modeling to create interactive animated experiences through both VR/AR.
She is inspired by tactility and the hybrid of textured surfaces from Niue’s ecology and coral landscapes combined with the decadence of desserts. She reimagines augmented sculpture into vibrant and playful animated works from our everyday environments, combining both the real world and digital.
JQ SIRLS (USA)
JQ Sirls is a creative leader working in product development, software development, publishing, and fine art.
With a passion for essentialist design and childlike imagination, JQ's practice combines both youthfulness into serious works and simplicity into fanciful ones.
This duality fuels his lifelong challenge to create a shared enthusiasm in adults and youth on projects commonly exclusive to one or the other.
JELLYBURGER (NORWAY)
Jellyburger (aka Julie Berger Lindh) is a Norway-based 3D artist specialized in CGI and motion design.
She enjoys creating hazy, surreal and moments of introspection of other-worldly places that are intimately associated with escapism. Jellyburger has exhibited at gallery Brenneriet, gallery Ingensteds, and Varmtbadet with the Drøbak art collective, as well as a solo exhibition at Sniki Art Gallery.
Her work is currently on display at Supernova’s curated show Age of Aquarius in Denver, Colorado.
HEATHER DUNAWAY SMITH (USA)
Heather Dunaway Smith is an XR artist that blends storytelling, illustration, animation, sound design, interaction design, and the physical world into immersive art experiences.
She is interested in blurring the line between art and audience by creating experiences where the participant is the protagonist.
Heather has created numerous innovative award-winning apps, mobile games, immersive museum exhibits, and interfaces for AI art experiments. She was also an Adobe’s AR artist-in-resident in 2020.
CHRISSY BRIMMAGE (USA)
Chrissy Brimmage (she/they) is a self-taught, multidisciplinary artist living and working out of Brooklyn, NY.
Her work utilizes the opportunities and constraints of digital space to research social phenomena of the material world.
Her practice integrates digital and analog mediums to explore her personal perceptions, as well as the varying perceptions between social identities on futures beyond oppressive systems, the function of identity, and definitions of freedom.
ELIOT WHITE-HILL, KWULASULTUN (SNUNEYMUXW)
Eliot White-Hill, Kwulasultun is a Coast Salish artist and storyteller from the Snuneymuxw First Nation.
His practice is rooted in honouring and celebrating the teachings and stories passed down by his community, and to share what he finds beautiful and profound about the Coast Salish worldview.
He currently resides on the territory of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh peoples and is an MFA candidate at Emily Carr University of Art + Design.
JAAD KUUJUS (HAIDA/KWAKWAKA'WAKW)
Jaad Kuujus (Meghann O'Brien) is an artist and weaver from the Northwest Coast of British Columbia.
She is a descendent of Haida / Kwakwaka'wakw / Irish origins, and has been traditionally trained by William White, Sherri Dick, Kerri Dick, and Donna Cranmer.
Her work explores the intersection of Indigenous materials, worldview, and processes, and how they interact within the realms of fashion and the digital.
OCEAN HYLAND (TSLEIL-WAUTUTH)
Ocean Hyland ( ts;simtelot) is an artist working in the realms of painting and digital design and has gained valuable knowledge apprenticing for creators Zachary George and Aaron Nelson Moody.
Hyland is interested in revitalizing Coast Salish languages and has studied sḵwx̱wú7mesh sníchim at Simon Fraser University.
On her matrilineal side she is Tsleil Waututh, Squamish, Cheam, Hawaiian, and Chinese. Through her father she is Scottish and Irish.
The richness and diversity of her cultural heritage is what inspires Ocean in her many art practices.
VMF Community Projects
DEBRA SPARROW (MUSQUEAM)
Debra Sparrow was born and raised on the Musqueam Indian Reserve. She is self-taught in Salish design, weaving and jewellery-making.
An acclaimed weaver, Debra has been deeply involved with the revival of the Musqueam weaving tradition for more than 30 years. Her artwork is exhibited nationally and internationally.
In 2018, Debra was instrumental in creating the “Blanketing the City” mural series—a part of the Vancouver Mural Festival. For it, she created three giant murals that showcase Musqueam weaving patterns and acknowledge the visual culture of the people whose unceded territory viewers are on. Debra continues to create from her home in Musqueam.
CHASE GRAY (MUSQUEAM/TSIMSHIAN)
Chase Gray is a trans-Indigiqueer or 2 Spirit xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) and Tsimshian artist. At 12 years old, he was introduced to mask-dancing and has danced along with the Git Hayetsk Dancers: "The People of the Copper Shield", who have greatly influenced his art.
In 2021, Chase revived his lifelong dream—drawing, formline drawing in particular. He took inspiration from the Indigenous characters and stories of his childhood and blended them with mainstream concepts.
Chase believes people from every culture can understand and appreciate Indigenous artwork in some way, and hopes his work captivates a wide audience.
DOAA MAGDY (EGYPT)
Doaa is a Nubian Afro-Indigenous interdisciplinary artist living on the unceded stolen lands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), Stó:lō and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.
As a researcher and aspiring horror film director, Doaa works in documentary filmmaking, dance, photography along with her latest endeavours to integrate Augmented Reality as a tool to amplify BIPOC narratives that highlight racial and social injustices faced by BIPOC individuals.
She is currently pursuing her second M.A. degree at SFU’s School of Contemporary Arts.
Follow @winterartfest on social media (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter) for updates onr VMF Winter Arts 2022.
Presenting Sponsor: Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association
