ICN's International Development Week project, Art2030, brought together eight artists from various communities across Canada, and engaged them in the production of a zine focused on SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities. As we engaged them, we asked them these two questions:
Emel Tabaku (b. 1999) is a Toronto-based Albanian Canadian interdisciplinary artist. Her works are deeply engaged with aspects of her Muslim Albanian heritage tying in history and layers of place to unfold memory through abstraction, collaging and layering of paint. Her material practice cannot be separated from the impressive depth of her research as she documents the struggles in shaping Balkan Muslim identities in North America. Emel is currently completing her BFA Thesis, “‘On Finding Home’: the Role of Reimagined Urban Spaces in One’s Search for Identity and Belonging,” at OCAD University, majoring in Drawing and Painting and minoring in Art History. Her research lies in diasporic communities, analyzing the impacts of migration on identity formation and belonging. Outside of academia, Emel Tabaku founded RCAD Initiative: Redefining Communities through Art + Design to amplify the voices of underrepresented youth communities through storytelling mentorship, entrepreneurial skills training, and innovative dialogue.
Jenny Bien-Aimé is a first-generation Haitian illustrator based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. A graduate of Dawson College where she studied illustration, her work focuses on exploring the human experience by conveying a dreamlike atmosphere using light, colours, attention to detail, and composition. Her goal is to tell stories that deepen the psychological exploration of the characters found in the story and the construction of a world while maintaining a relaxed environment. She is mainly inspired by nature and the people who make it up.
Kate is currently the Manager of Indigenous Governance and Decolonial Practices & Policy at VIDEA. She has a background in Indigenous Family Support Work, with her Bachelors(?) in Justice Studies at Royal Roads University where she was awarded the Lt. Governor’s Medal for Inclusion, Democracy & Reconciliation. Kate is also currently pursuing a Masters of Geography at the University of Victoria where her research is focused on centring Indigenous youth in traditional knowledge and governance of land and water in Tanzania. Kate is located on the traditional territory of the Lkwungen speaking people and is Inuk on her Father’s side from the Adams family. She is the Interim Chair for the Canadian Commission for UNESCO’s Youth Advisory. She attended COP25 Madrid as part of the delegation from United Nations Association in Canada, and the 11th Annual UNESCO Youth Forum in Paris in 2019, where she was the first Indigenous youth to represent Canada. In addition to the Commission on the Status of Women 65, she also spoke at BCCIC’s side event at Generational Equality Paris in 2021. Kate is passionate decolonizing education and integrating Indigenous knowledge systems and perspectives into spaces to create meaningful relationships and change.
Mackenzie Brown is a First Nations Cree woman from the Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation, currently residing in Amiskwaciwaskahikan, Edmonton. She is a performer, drummer, tourism entrepreneur, philanthropist and advocate for at-risk youth in the Edmonton area. Mackenzie and her mom perform as “Warrior Women”. They drum and teach around Alberta for the Northern Alberta Teachers Conference, the annual Jasper Dark Skies Festival, Youth Dream Catchers Conference, Canada Day, Aboriginal Day festivities and more. Along with drumming, Mackenzie is also an avid acrylic artist and traditional First Nations crafts artisan. Her art has been featured in the Pump House Gallery, the Edson Gallery Museum, the Gray Gallery Grant MacEwan, recognized for the Alberta Indian Arts and Crafts Award of 2017, featured for the Alberta Business Competition 2017 and sold to people travelling world wide at Jasper Park Lodge. She is the recent recipient of the 2019 Esquao Award for Children’s Future, 2019 Indigenous Woman of the year from the Alberta Assembly of First Nations and Top 30 under 30 From Alberta Corporation for Global Cooperation 2020. Mackenzie was also recently highlighted as the only Indigenous and Albertan artist on the reality TV show Landscape Artist of the Year Canada where she placed in the top 3 finalists.
Miguel Noe Morales Lozano is a first-generation El Salvadoran-Canadian, born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Morales-Lozano uses their queerness and strong connection to their El Salvadoran heritage to influence their work, creating colourful, emotional paintings. They are currently in their third year of their Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at Emily Carr University of Art + Design, with a focus on visual arts painting.
Nathan is Saulteaux Anishnabe from Cote in Treaty 4 territory. They self-identify as 2Spirit and Gender Queer. Creative writing has been an outlet for Nathans hardship and successes. They are very passionate about poetry, word art, lyrics and writing essays through post-secondary education. Social justice and liberal arts are Nathan’s forte and they aspire to be an advocate through the use of their voice and leadership amongst peers and those who cross paths with in their lifetime. Though Nathan struggle with hardship and losses they remain optimistic, hopeful and eagerly anticipate enacting social change through the use of words.
Stormy Bradley is of Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in and Norwegian Ancestry has completed the foundations of art program at the School of Visual Arts in Dawson City, Yukon. Stormy is multidisciplinary artist utilizing from the land materials blending traditional knowledge to create contemporary works. Through her work she explores themes of identity, intersectional feminism, and decolonization.
Victoria Daaboul was born in Lebanon in 1988. Her family fled to Canada while she was still an infant, during the civil war in Lebanon, and have remained settled here since. She was raised in Montreal, Quebec until relocating to Halifax in 2012. She became interested in photography at a young age, and has been shooting primarily 35mm film photography for more than half her life.
Emel Tabaku (b. 1999) is a Toronto-based Albanian Canadian interdisciplinary artist. Her works are deeply engaged with aspects of her Muslim Albanian heritage tying in history and layers of place to unfold memory through abstraction, collaging and layering of paint. Her material practice cannot be separated from the impressive depth of her research as she documents the struggles in shaping Balkan Muslim identities in North America. Emel is currently completing her BFA Thesis, “‘On Finding Home’: the Role of Reimagined Urban Spaces in One’s Search for Identity and Belonging,” at OCAD University, majoring in Drawing and Painting and minoring in Art History. Her research lies in diasporic communities, analyzing the impacts of migration on identity formation and belonging. Outside of academia, Emel Tabaku founded RCAD Initiative: Redefining Communities through Art + Design to amplify the voices of underrepresented youth communities through storytelling mentorship, entrepreneurial skills training, and innovative dialogue.
Jenny Bien-Aimé is a first-generation Haitian illustrator based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. A graduate of Dawson College where she studied illustration, her work focuses on exploring the human experience by conveying a dreamlike atmosphere using light, colours, attention to detail, and composition. Her goal is to tell stories that deepen the psychological exploration of the characters found in the story and the construction of a world while maintaining a relaxed environment. She is mainly inspired by nature and the people who make it up.
Kate is currently the Manager of Indigenous Governance and Decolonial Practices & Policy at VIDEA. She has a background in Indigenous Family Support Work, with her Bachelors(?) in Justice Studies at Royal Roads University where she was awarded the Lt. Governor’s Medal for Inclusion, Democracy & Reconciliation. Kate is also currently pursuing a Masters of Geography at the University of Victoria where her research is focused on centring Indigenous youth in traditional knowledge and governance of land and water in Tanzania. Kate is located on the traditional territory of the Lkwungen speaking people and is Inuk on her Father’s side from the Adams family. She is the Interim Chair for the Canadian Commission for UNESCO’s Youth Advisory. She attended COP25 Madrid as part of the delegation from United Nations Association in Canada, and the 11th Annual UNESCO Youth Forum in Paris in 2019, where she was the first Indigenous youth to represent Canada. In addition to the Commission on the Status of Women 65, she also spoke at BCCIC’s side event at Generational Equality Paris in 2021. Kate is passionate decolonizing education and integrating Indigenous knowledge systems and perspectives into spaces to create meaningful relationships and change.
Mackenzie Brown is a First Nations Cree woman from the Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation, currently residing in Amiskwaciwaskahikan, Edmonton. She is a performer, drummer, tourism entrepreneur, philanthropist and advocate for at-risk youth in the Edmonton area. Mackenzie and her mom perform as “Warrior Women”. They drum and teach around Alberta for the Northern Alberta Teachers Conference, the annual Jasper Dark Skies Festival, Youth Dream Catchers Conference, Canada Day, Aboriginal Day festivities and more. Along with drumming, Mackenzie is also an avid acrylic artist and traditional First Nations crafts artisan. Her art has been featured in the Pump House Gallery, the Edson Gallery Museum, the Gray Gallery Grant MacEwan, recognized for the Alberta Indian Arts and Crafts Award of 2017, featured for the Alberta Business Competition 2017 and sold to people travelling world wide at Jasper Park Lodge. She is the recent recipient of the 2019 Esquao Award for Children’s Future, 2019 Indigenous Woman of the year from the Alberta Assembly of First Nations and Top 30 under 30 From Alberta Corporation for Global Cooperation 2020. Mackenzie was also recently highlighted as the only Indigenous and Albertan artist on the reality TV show Landscape Artist of the Year Canada where she placed in the top 3 finalists.
Miguel Noe Morales Lozano is a first-generation El Salvadoran-Canadian, born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Morales-Lozano uses their queerness and strong connection to their El Salvadoran heritage to influence their work, creating colourful, emotional paintings. They are currently in their third year of their Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at Emily Carr University of Art + Design, with a focus on visual arts painting.
Nathan is Saulteaux Anishnabe from Cote in Treaty 4 territory. They self-identify as 2Spirit and Gender Queer. Creative writing has been an outlet for Nathans hardship and successes. They are very passionate about poetry, word art, lyrics and writing essays through post-secondary education. Social justice and liberal arts are Nathan’s forte and they aspire to be an advocate through the use of their voice and leadership amongst peers and those who cross paths with in their lifetime. Though Nathan struggle with hardship and losses they remain optimistic, hopeful and eagerly anticipate enacting social change through the use of words.
Stormy Bradley is of Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in and Norwegian Ancestry has completed the foundations of art program at the School of Visual Arts in Dawson City, Yukon. Stormy is multidisciplinary artist utilizing from the land materials blending traditional knowledge to create contemporary works. Through her work she explores themes of identity, intersectional feminism, and decolonization.
Victoria Daaboul was born in Lebanon in 1988. Her family fled to Canada while she was still an infant, during the civil war in Lebanon, and have remained settled here since. She was raised in Montreal, Quebec until relocating to Halifax in 2012. She became interested in photography at a young age, and has been shooting primarily 35mm film photography for more than half her life.