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02 CONT 04 05 06 Impressum Editor s Letter Isolation 08 12 18 Nursery Rhymes The Tribunal Ahmed Muslimani

03 ENTS 22 26 38 Theresa Stork Community Features Open Call About Culturally

THE CONTRIBUTORS 04 Executive Director Isabell Sliwinski Art Director Alison Chen Editor in Chief Aparna Prabhakar Design Syed Bukhari Javier Souza Marta Pakiet Jounalists Zaenab Najeeb Dorian Shine Featured Elif Karakoc Ahmed Muslimani Theresa Stork And All featured artists and writers from the Culturally community

MODERN R AISSANCE CREATE AL A NOTE FROM AND APAR THE EDITORS MODERNR Culturally Arts Collective is a community for arts advocacy we aim to increase accessibility and inclusivity in the art world As two young artists we are excited to be a part of Culturally s monthly art magazine Modern Renaissance In this publication we feature creatives of all ages and nationalities exploring aspects of writing design and visual art When I was in elementary school my art class was routinely shown pictures of world famous paintings From the Mona Lisa to The Starry Night the images were pinned up on the board and we were told to copy them We were graded based on how accurate our copies of the artwork were As fortunate as we were to have access to an arts education when my classmates and I looked back on those art classes we started to see the holes that we were forced to learn to fill by ourselves Art is not learned through copying famous pieces It is not a bulleted todo list to be crossed off and it is not a box to be put in On the contrary art is freedom It is the innovation of new styles and pieces a purposeful aberration from tradition We hope this issue of Modern Renaissance helps you find your freedom in art Alison Chen Art Director Aparna Prabhakar Editor in Chief

06 By Zaenab Najeeb ISOLATION Day after day contemporary art has become remote and isolated like an island in the middle of the ocean that only invitees can reach Art is a mirror of the soul you are supposed to see something of your soul through art and the more refined the experience the more clearly you can see your soul The point of view differs from one person to another and it is important for every artist to see the world from the point of view of other artists It is important for us as artists to have access to many terms that explain art especially contemporary art as each artist has their own terminology by which they express art The gap between artists and Ordinary People has grown to the point where there is no longer any channel of communication between them For those outside the world of contemporary art modern art has become just incomprehensible talismans It is important to find terms to understand contemporary art and express it linguistically or even emotionally in order to contribute to creating a rapprochement between artists and the public Paintings give us a great opportunity to know how the artist sees the world and people but is there any value in knowing this Discovering the world through the eyes of others gives you an additional experience that helps you to see the world in different ways that may lead to a better life Art is one of the greatest tools that help people accept others The most important thing that art provides for you is the free expression of self without any restrictions So art is an important tool of psychotherapy and is considered a mechanism of healing Art is not a talent that some people have while others remain outside the arena to watch On the contrary art is a system within all human beings and it needs an activation process to strike a balance between the rest of the systems within the human being If you are able to liberate the artistic system you have liberated a great deal of energy within yourself that makes you able to see the world in all shades of colors instead of only gray Art refines the mirror in which you look at life to make it clearer and purer

I The problem with understanding contemporary art is that some classicists see art as a meticulously drawn butterfly while modernists see art as the shapes formed on its wings Is it possible to explain the shapes on the wing of a peacock butterfly Yes these shapes are discernable just like the back of Nudibranch birds of paradise like Wilson s bird ofparadise and of course my best friend the King vulture Again if we admit that contemporary art is all these wonderful forms how do we explain it If we can explain it to these living organisms in nature we can easily explain it for artwork There is a need for convergence between contemporary art and nature We need to know the truth and a clear explanation of what these forms mean to all organisms that are filled with colors and shapes that seem to be flirting with contemporary artists We must consider nature as a frame of reference for modern art That knowledge may not be recognized by the mind but that which the heart perceives Nothing is logical in these organisms designs but there is something profound that makes you shiver when you see it This is contemporary art an art that cannot be understood by logic so most rationalists fail to realize it I think they have missed out on a great deal of understanding a different level of the world and beauty Art is important to me so that I do not lose the beautiful calm and pious self It is also important to you in any way you interpret it

NUR RHY 08 Nursery Rhymes More Than Child s Play By Aparna Prabhakar https www google com search q nursery 20rhymes tbm isch tbs il ol rlz 1C1CHBF_enUS906US906 hl en sa X ved 0CAAQ1vwEahcKEwiwlZ34naT7AhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAg biw 1351 bih 774 imgrc T8ICxRp3WE5PM

RSER YMES 09

10 Whoever said Humpty Dumpty was an egg And why were horses sent to fix him Nursery rhymes are an integral part of millions of childrens lives From falling asleep to their soothing melodies to singing them on the playground generations have grown up to the familiar tunes of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Lavender s Blue But what do these songs even mean Why did the spider climb up the water spout Who is Old Mother Hubbard And what has kept these jingles popular for centuries At first glance these songs appear to be harmless little tunes that reference ridiculous personifications and impossible events in an attempt to bring mirth to children However with a deeper analysis one begins to question what exactly the rhymes are talking about Let s take Humpty Dumpty for example When this jingle is brought up most people immediately think of a chubby Mr Potato esque egg that has tragically fallen off a wall and shattered It takes listeners back to the first time they encountered the inevitable experience of dropping an egg on the kitchen floor when all they wanted was to make an omelet But nowhere in the rhyme does it mention that Humpty Dumpty is an egg so where did this notion come from The first instance that the term was used in reference to an egg was in Lewis Carroll s Wonderland when Alice stumbles upon a sentient egg stuck on a high wall Historians today still debate where the story originated from if Humpty Dumpty wasn t an egg then what was he Some suggest that he was a cannon used during the English Civil War that fell from the top of a ledge and broke and none of the king s army could fix it Others suggest that it wasn t a what so much as a who some historians believe that the egg symbolized King Richard III s fall from power Many other nursery rhymes bear a similar context rooted in history One popular playground game Ring Around the Rosies often results in children holding hands and skipping in circles What many fail to realize however is that the rhyme references the plague The rosies are rosaries used to pray over sickly bodies Pocket full of posies is a nod to the practice of using posies to both mask the smell of sickness and as a good luck omen to ward away evil Ashes ashes we all fall down both mimics the sound of sneezing a sign of sickness and speaks to the frequent burning of corpses during the Black Plague Another similar historical rhyme is that of London Bridge yet another rhyme which like Humpty Dumpty and Ring Around the Rosies speaks of falling down Though to children this is nothing more than a fun action to play out while singing the rhyme the true meanings often signify death sickness and torment In the case of the physical London Bridge the structure is wellknown to have survived multiple natural disasters and invasions The London Bridge still stretches over the River Thames today Another facet to this rhyme however is that the bridge was involved in the funeral plans of Queen Elizabeth II When the queen passed it was planned that the press would be notified with the phrase London Bridge is down yet another connection between childrens rhymes and the British monarchy With histories this dark why do parents continue to pass these jingles down through generations One possible explanation is the repetitive nature of the easy to memorize lyrics At the end of the song the tune simply repeats itself providing seemingly endless fun for young children Moreover many rhymes share the same tune Twinkle Twinkle Little Star The Alphabet Song and Baa Baa Black Sheep all share the exact same melody ensuring that children will be able to sing them all with little to no difficulty To them the nursery rhymes only significance is an excuse to run in circles and fall to the ground After all it s all simply child s play to them However with a deeper analysis one begins to question what exactly the rhymes are talking about

11 TO THEM THE NURSERY RHYMES ONLY SIGNIFICANCE IS AN EXCUSE TO RUN IN CIRCLES AND FALL TO THE GROUND

12 T THE TRIBUNAL By Dorian Shine The court is now in session with Dishonourable Judge Jean Genet presiding The case massage therapist Alex has several intriguing encounters with her new client Waled who is on leave from work to avoid a mediation process with his troublesome manager Alex s increasing curiosity about Waled s physical ailments develops into a strange intimacy which leaves her professionally compromised and him potentially exposed

Breanne Oryschak The Tribunal is written by Breanne Oryschak and directed by Dillon Orr with a group of wonderful actors Ahmed Muslimani Dorian Shine and Theresa Stork With the support of Tactics Theatre Artists Co operative the Independent Collective Series and the Ontario Arts Council Conseil des arts de l Ontario Dillon Orr Director Originally from the Detroit River Region Dillon Orr is a Franco Ontarian stage director He is a graduate of the Department of Theatre from the University of Ottawa and the Artistic Residency program at the National Theatre School of Canada Strongly interested in the development and production of new dramaturgies Dillon is the recipient of the Paulette Gagnon 2016 and National Excellence RBC 2019 awards awarded by the Foundation for the Advancement of Francophone Theatre in Canada as well as the Pauline McGibbon Award 2021 from the Ontario Arts Council His work and theatrical point of view characterised by its passion fueled approach to cringe are exciting new forms of popular entertainment Anchored in humour and accessibility Dillon s unique approach to live art is representative of an intrinsically FrancoOntarian aesthetic His many creations include Le club des ph m res Th tre du Nouvel Ontario Th tre fran ais de Toronto Ceci n est pas une lettre d adieu Th tre Catapulte Toutou Vox Th tre Jeff Koons Th tre du Trillium Centre Phi and Vaches The Musical Creations In Vivo marginalized radical oppressed 13 Playwright Breanne is an interdisciplinary theatre artist and filmmaker based in Ottawa Movement experimentation in form socio political preoccupations and humour infuse her work which includes five one acts and a full length play Yes Tak Or Notes at the end of the Orange Revolution 2014 and numerous 8 16mm short films Tell us about the choice of making Alex a massage therapist I deliberately made Alex a massage therapist instead of a writer academic or journalist to push myself to dramatize the acquisition of knowledge through touch and movement rather than research writing and rapportage What about Walid s trauma Keeping the real source of Walid s trauma obscure was important to me because the play is not about interrogating or sensationalizing his trauma that s precisely what I m satirizing but about skewering the assumptions and the narratives that we sometimes build as proxy witnesses and allies to other people s struggles and traumas Why Jean Genet I ll never forget how I found out about Jean Genet circa 2009 I was a student activist bashfully talking to a guest speaker at an event She fired me up with her talk about children in Nahr al Bared a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon When she asked me what I studied I felt so embarrassed How could I tell this serious activist that I studied 18th century British satire Basically deadwhite guy poop and sex jokes with a political spin When I downplayed my area of study as nothing serious or contemporary she reminded me of how political and radical literature could be She insisted after all there s Jean Genet Then I did what any desperate grad student would do I agreed wholeheartedly with her in the moment and then looked up everything by Jean Genet afterwards And he did not disappoint He was a queer writer and theatre artist who ruthlessly questioned the strictures of society and proudly lived outside its boundaries He toured with the Black Panthers illegally in the U S and lived amongst the Palestinians in exile on multiple occasions He was unafraid of being ostracized for associating with the most marginalized radical and oppressed

14 Dorian Shine Jean Genet

15 Breanne Oryschak Playwright

16 Dillon Orr Director

G And his work was meant to provoke polite audiences It was a profound reminder of how art can serve activism and how fearless and relevant artists can be in activism My first encounter with Genet coincided with my first awareness of the Sabra and Shatilla massacre so the two were linked in my mind It all came full circle when I discovered that Genet had himself written an account of Sabra and Shatila as an eye witness the day after the massacre What are you interrogating in the play I have been involved with Palestinian solidarity movements for the last 15 years I have intimate knowledge of how most privileged folks feel when they first become proxywitnesses to anti colonial struggles and trauma you are outraged Upset It is likely the first time you are encountering the information and you immediately ask But what can I do That impulse is one best served with self education and confronting the ways that you are likely complicit in the systems and behaviours that oppress people You need to push past that feeling of but that s not me I m not oppressive I only want to help and I have the Instagram post to prove it This is the confrontation that I am pursuing in the play I do not pretend to speak for Palestinians I interrogate how people witness each other s struggles what information people pursue to know others struggles and how we try to support each other in our struggles Genet and Alex become the touchpoint of the play in this regard And sometimes notions of care are harmful we mistake our consumption of other people s trauma with help that isn t in fact helpful 17 Behind the scenes of Jean Genet Dorian Shine When I was offered to play the role of Jean Genet in the play Le Tribunal I felt a little warmth that reminded me of my hometown Tangier where the polemical author had spent his last years and was buried Familiar with the author s theatre works I found the role rich in material especially since it is written as a surreal judge rambling between dreams memories and impressions It has been many years since my feet have been on the stage as an actor But I missed my home very much and so it was a roller coaster ride for me to play this composite character The author has given her many intriguing facets I didn t expect the tone of this character to be comical or even satirical Being queer and even surrealist I had to draw on all my creativity to give him the colors he deserved During a week the rehearsals were rich with moments where each member of the team brought a momentum of truth of fragility to enrich the creation With the encouragement of the author Breanne and the director Dillon and the creativity and support of the other actors in less than a week we were ready to read for the Ottawais audience The day of the show I had been asked to improve interactions with the audience during their entrance which calmed my heart a bit and also gave me a sense of who this audience is Let me set the scene three spots divided the stage each spot with a microphone a stand to have his text and a chair In the middle my spot where I interpreted Jean Genet On my left Theresa played Alex and on my right Ahmed played Waleed then at the end of the scene a table with a lamp for the author Branne who read the didascalies Between laughter concentration and sighs the audience was hanging on our lips Then suddenly the fire alarm went off Thinking it was a mistake we continued to play until we realised that there might be a fire in the building We went down the 4 big floors with the audience and once outside we started to talk to each other The performance of these unique moments was high After half an hour of talking about the piece we were back on the long stairs to pick up the scene where we left off I found this experience intimate and unique and I thank the audience for waiting and returning to the theatre with us After the play the applause and moments of exchange between the audience and us followed

18 AHMED MUSLIMANI Ahmed is an actor born in Lebanon and raised in Senegal Colombia Egypt and the U S He has appeared in a number of films and television shows and is now focusing his efforts on working in the theater By Dorian Shine

19 Ahmed Muslimani in Everything Outside

20 Ahmed Muslimani in The Fantasticks

21 FROM A SUCCESSFUL ACTING TO alleviate a knot in his neck a problem the therapist believes is a physical CAREER TO FOCUSING ON THEATRE A What sparked your interest to begin a career as an actor and how is your experience working in the industry so far I have wanted to be an actor since I was a young child It all started with a marionette production of Little Red Riding Hood that my mother took me to when I was six or seven The puppets felt so real to me and I became aware of a different kind of truth that I would later learn is only accessible in performance I did my first play Ubu Roi when I was ten and I ve never looked back since What do you think can make a character challenging For me the most challenging characters to play are the ones to which I relate too closely because it can blur the lines of what I m experiencing in the moment and it can be difficult to not take the work home But if I put it in perspective of the realities of the industry and think of challenging as almost burdensome it s the characters one plays to pay their dues the ones that are written to be one dimensional and stereotypical Those can be really challenging for the spirit Tell us about your last experience on stage and what made it special for you My last experience on the stage was a development workshop for a new play titled The Tribunal This was a really terrific experience Development workshops allow you to work closely with the writer and director on building the character The entire team was so wonderful and the material itself was the best kind of material to work with intelligent emotionally resonant and most of all really fun Can you expand more in the details of your character the story of the play and the topics We really only glimpses of the character s real life through his interactions His past and his trauma are alluded to through another s character s assumptions about him namely him being a survivor of the Sabra and Shatila massacre that saw thousands of Palestinian refugees murdered at the hands of the Israeli Defense Forces and the Lebanese Phallangist Militia in 1982 In the play we see a person who is quite defensive and carries a lot of hurt While dealing with a human resource issue at his IT job that forced him on leave he seeks the help of a massage therapist to manifestation of his trauma The therapist makes an unwelcome move on him and he takes her to court accusing her of sexual misconduct hence the title The Tribunal Throughout all of this Jean Genet the infamous French writer and one of the first eye witnesses to the aftermath of the massacre plays a sort of Greek Chorus taking on several characters in the play including the judge and providing commentary on the tragedy and the absurdity of the situation It sounds like a lot but the play is so well written and the relationships so well drawn by Breanne Oryschak that the themes of trauma and privilege come through quite clearly What do you like and what do you hate about this character Walid was a bit challenging to play because to be honest I really didn t like him as a person I found him misogynistic petulant and narcissistic But he felt very real and like someone I knew very well His trauma while essential to the play didn t feel exploited And the dialogue was so well written that it felt easy to step into his shoes I know that you traveled a lot during your life how did this shape your personality Can you share with us switch moments in your life I grew up in Lebanon Senegal Colombia Egypt and Michigan And in Canada I ve lived in Toronto Vancouver and now Ottawa Growing up while constantly having to adjust to a different culture and a new language I was always very shy and quiet because I needed time to observe and learn before feeling comfortable to be myself in each new context All that observation gave a lot of insight into how we experience things as humans all of the ways in which we are similar and all of the ways in which culture and history inform how we express ourselves That has served me well as an actor but it has also made me too vulnerable to commit to it fully as a career I want to be an actor because there are so many meaningful stories to tell Pursuing a career as an actor though can be a bit demoralizing and it can also feed your ego far more than is healthy So I often take long breaks without auditioning or thinking about it It s a way of recentering and finding purpose outside of myself and my own desires If someone was going to make your life into a movie what would be the title And who would act your role This was a question that we always considered in theatre school And that was over 20 years ago for me I think at that time I wanted Edward Norton to play me cause I found him a bit weird I have no idea anymore who I would want to play me Someone Arabic with a slightly odd quality to them That s how I see myself anyway As for the title of an autobiographical work I m gonna go with By Foot It s a Slow Climb It s a reference to one of my all time favourite musicians Fiona Apple from her song Extraordinary Machine I listen to a lot of Fiona when I m in my feelings Someone Arabic with a slightly odd quality to them That s how I see myself Ahmed can you share with us the challenges you face in the industry today and how you think to overcome them Gosh there are so many challenges But I ll start with something good which is that there has been a shift in the industry when it comes to the representation of marginalized communities We are seeing people telling their stories and having those stories enter the mainstream like never before and that s really wonderful In terms of challenges since the pandemic started actors have been having to submit selftapes for auditions and the time and financial commitment that it involves is severely underestimated by the casting directors You need equipment space a reader editing software Quite often you receive a request for a self tape with only 1 or 2 days notice which unless you re an actor with no other jobs or responsibilities is quite the undertaking Actors are not compensated for any of that work Being an actor is a game of patience and perseverance I can t really say that I overcame those challenges which is why now I work in the non profit sector and audition for theatre when the time allows What about your dreams My only dream was to be a working actor and to have that be my one source of income That was never realistic for me I went on about 40 to 60 auditions a year and would only book one or two parts That s not remotely sustainable I m in my 40 s now so those dreams have shifted and become much more practical What would you like to say to new actors or those who want to be actors I ll keep this simple and just say get some training start writing early on even if you think it s terrible be vocal with your agent about your goals stay connected with other actors and creators and celebrate their successes as if they were your own be prepared and on time and have fun

ts 22 THERESA STORK By Dorian Shine

s Theresa Stork is an actress originally from Germany After completing a three and a half year program at the Berlin School of Acting she performed at the Youth State theatre of Bavaria for children and young adults for two seasons Back in Berlin she worked for numerous theatre companies like the Neues Theater Zeitz New Theatre company of the city of Zeitz and the Berlin Dungeon an interactive theatre company that explores the dark history of Berlin She performed in several German TV series as well as in the feature film FIKKEFUCHS In 2019 she moved to Canada and performed in the award winning short movie SEANCE SPEAKS LOUDER THAN WORDS as one of the lead actors She has also performed in the Vagina Monologues on stage at the Bronson Centre and was lately part of the open reading of The Tribunal by Breanne Oryschak as one of the three actors at the arts court in Ottawa Tell me your story of becoming an Tell me more about that acting actress experience and about your role I was studying fashion design in I absolutely loved the experience of But what I really France when one of my friends working together on The Tribunal wish for is to invited me to see a play at one of What an amazing team And what a the best Parisian theatres I gift to play the role of Alex I loved always be able to enjoyed the play although my to slowly discover her motives and work with French wasn t great back then fears It s always very complex to However after the play he invited understand what makes us do the amazing people in me to grab a drink with some of his things we do and so it is for every amazing projects friends They were all artists and I character you re playing was blown away by the energy of Something might seem obvious or and perform them that group Much later I had strange for that matter but it s the to an amazing already changed paths and was things that are hidden in the text or working as an actress I figured in some actions that are most audience that even though some of the interesting and bring the character artists of that group were to life if you re able to bring them to struggling back then they were all light I felt so fortunate to work with spreading love for the thing they such a supportive group of people were doing I love to share stories As an artist and a human being to as a listener a performer and remind myself to have faith in the storyteller And I believe that storytelling and flow of things How to overcome them To accept empathising go hand in hand the fact that this is one of the challenges What has been your favourite role so far in your What is your favourite acting medium career Theatre Film TV I love them all My favourite role so far was Naomi from the play What are your future projects Alan and Naomi That character taught me a lot as Some short movies and a commercial And I m a person and as a performer Naomi is a hoping that there ll be more work with our amazing traumatised young person and has barely any lines It team was a very physical and yet psychological approach Tell me your secret artistic dream to understand that character I m sitting here thinking about that question and lots How is it to be a newcomer artist in Ottawa Tell me of things are coming to my mind like writing my own about your experience as an artist moving here play acting in a very particular play and another very I experienced Ottawa as a very welcoming city when particular movie both exist in my head but I m not it comes to the arts I was very lucky to have met going to be the one who writes them and so on and some wonderful people right in the beginning who so forth But what I really wish for is to always be got me in touch with other artists able to work with amazing people in amazing We collaborated in a theatre reading recently projects and perform them to an amazing audience 23

24 THERESA STORK

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26 COMMUNI FEATURES We feature a variety of artists in Modern Renaissance and we are always looking for more community features If you are interested in being featured in our next issue head to Culturally s website or Instagram where you will find the online submission form If you are unable to find your submission keep an eye out for the next issue All works are copyrighted and all rights are reserved by the artists and writers

27 TY S Elif Karakoc October An introverted emotional series of self portraits created with the inspiration from artists works such as Toulouse Lautrec Ramon Casas is a playful interpretation of looking at the draining everyday news and mental health issues from another era s colors and perspectives The Ball now represents our daily lives while we are struggling in the capitalistic system Then the moments that we have to ourselves after the ball we re still stuck within it scrolling through the devastating truths we re living and we have lived as human beings Using real brush strokes and textures on photographs I create painting like images that are in resemblance with the original pieces yet changing their context using modern day issues and symbolism Instagram elifkarakoc

28 MANSOOR ALI PANWHAR Lahore Instagram mansoor_alee37 Mansoor Ali was born in 1995 in Hyderabad He graduated from the Institute of Art and Design at the University of Sindh Jamshoro and completed his Master s in visual art from the National College of art Lahore in 2022 Mansoor is a Multidisciplinary artist who has participated in group shows at Art City Gallery Karachi in 2017 and Taseer Gallery Lahore in 2018 performed at the Karachi Biennale in 2019 and ArtKaam Gallery Karachi 2022 My practice has been inspired by western comic books where the visual and textual sequences are depicted in a dark and humorous way It reminds me of my childhood school textbooks within which descriptive illustrations with direct messages made it simple to engage with a wider audience I deliberately took the main characteristics of this genre and tried to develop my own visual language with nonlinear narratives by using my own local cultural aesthetics of the Pakistan region I am aiming to uncover factual differences and judgments about supernatural things of east and west I use digital techniques with expressive brushstrokes and vibrant colors to enhance basic human emotions

29 Saint Stephen Hawking Panchayat Peeru Paro Dhareel ja sathi

30 DASIY CARRICKSMITH London Instagram arcipluvia Born in 1995 London Raised in Norfolk Currently living in South East London Exhibitions ELYSIUM The Holy Art Gallery London 22nd 28th April 2022 Group Show ButterUp Coffee London 2022 Permanent Display The New Artist II Boomer Gallery London 13th 18th May 2022 Group Show Since graduating from the University of Exeter with a BA in Economics in 2017 Daisy has worked within the art sphere for the Phillips 20th Century and Contemporary Art Department multiple London galleries Saatchi Gallery Hazlitt Holland Hibbert and JD Malat and artists In 2021 Daisy took the plunge to become a full time artist and is building a portfolio of work titled Arcipluvia During Daisy s childhood she had artwork exhibited at the Royal College of Art on two occasions having twice been selected to show in the Young Art Competition exhibition Continuing her art education through school in her final year Daisy secured a place in the Top 20 of the Deutsche Bank Art Prize 2015 having her artwork exhibited at the Saatchi Gallery alongside other finalists being displayed there again in 2016 In more recent years and until 2021 Daisy has painted sculptures for art trails raising money for charity and part taking in any creative opportunities Since early 2021 Daisy has been expanding on her ongoing Arcipluvia series This ongoing gouache series titled Arcipluvia is an imagined kaleidoscopic world which serves to provide an emotive immersive and joyously colourful escape from the everyday being born out of a longing to visit beautiful landscapes Arcipluvia is a name created from the Latin derived word arcipluvian which translates to an arc of rain more commonly known as a rainbow used to describe something which is multi coloured A jubilant and joyous place No thing is too peculiar Where colour reigns and hope prevails In this land of Arcipluvia An excitement inducing natural phenomenon the ephemeral rainbow is historically and presently a symbol of hope Taking on varied roles and meanings in religion and ancient myth across countless cultures the rainbow was mostly considered a pathway between Earth and Heaven and subsequently became a sign of promise that better times lie ahead Arcipluvia encapsulates everything good old and new that the rainbow represents weaving messages of hope through mesmerising undulating hills of colour a contemporary paradise Somewhat conversely escapism in itself is a complicated and contentious topic in art Where a utopian scene is intended to someone else it might serve as a stark reminder of the hardships of real life or some may even feel a more sinister dystopian air in the removal of everyday imperfections

31 Arcipluvia X Arcipluvia VI Arcipluvia XI Arcipluvia XIII Arcipluvia XVIII

32 SETH ELLISON Philadelphia Instagram sethellison101 Seth Ellison was born in Beckley West Virginia in 1984 His childhood was spent compulsively drawing Disney cartoons in preparation for his future career as an animator It wasn t until encountering the Louvre Museum in France and a magazine depicting the work of Philip Guston that he decided to become a fine artist Seth graduated from the Savannah College of Art and Design in 2009 with a BFA and then from the University of the Arts in 2012 with an MFA He currently lives outside of Philadelphia with his wife and two children Growing up in West Virginia its beautiful and isolating landscape instilled my mind with a lingering nostalgia One can easily lose a sense of time and place getting lost forever in its sweet and kitschy countryside while at the same time desperately yearning to transcend it In a sense it is a place that had been left behind and living on the margin of history a position which left me with a sharp awareness of my own identity and its connection to it When I express my own experiences its struggles contradictions and cultural aesthetics are always in the background of my mind The echoes of the nostalgic and bucolic of art traditions past reverberate throughout my work My appropriative process leads me to draw from many diverse places such as the 18th and 19th European masters of agrarian landscapes as well as the comics and memorabilia that saturated America in the early and mid 20th century I then weave my own contemporary autobiographical experiences into these references to create something both very personal and universal but always with the unique perspective born out of the southern United States

33 A Composed Man The Gatherer Bedeviled The Eagle and the Tramp Worker Bee

34 SYA WARFIELD Los Angeles Instagram TikTok Twitter Pinterest syawarfield Facebook artofsya Linkedin sya warfield Sya Warfield is a multidisciplinary artist who lives and works in Los Angeles California She creates art that pushes creative boundaries keeping in mind accessibility and the importance of connection Most recently she was included along with 140 other artists to exhibit at The Other Art Fair in partnership with Saatchi Art during Spring 2022 located in Los Angeles CA During Winter 2022 she painted at the Visa Kiosk for the Super Bowl Experience located at the LA Convention Center A recent solo art exhibition titled Pulp Idols was held during Fall 2021 in Santa Clarita CA She has worked on public art commissions with Del Rey Utility Box Project Let s Paint Sherman Oaks NoHo Utility Box Program and Glendale Beyond the Box Other projects include Let s Paint the Town in DTLA and Studio City and Colors of Freedom Alley in Inglewood Indoor commissions at schools are located at Shonto Preparatory AZ Salvation Army Mission Corp San Francisco CA and Lynwood Elementary Los Angeles CA with her fiscally sponsored organization Upward Together Warfield s work has been presented in selected gallery exhibitions include Freeing Ourselves Mercado La Paloma LA 2019 Black and White Creative Arts Group Sierra Madre 2019 Nude Art LA located at Art Share in 2018 and All Female Art Show at Merchants of Reality San Francisco 2015 My series Women are Heroes is a collection of s heroes celebrating feminine empowerment This study examines the radiance of flow state as a way to stay centered in a chaotic world in response to burdens on mental health This collection tells the story of performance and dance trailblazers from the early 20th century featuring Isodora Duncan Anna Pavlova Carmen Amaya and Badiaa Masabni With this series I aim to preserve legacies of powerful women This collection is a tribute to emerging women ready to shine like diamonds Shedding their cocoon of protection to embrace a confidence that radiates in a new self Inspired by the deep wild beauty of dreaming big and the rises falls and changing pathways that take us there I am a mixed media artist content creator and photographer based in Los Angeles California My work explores boundless forms of stories from a feminine perspective Influenced by the Japanese concept of wabi sabi my personal style centers around imperfection and impermanence I aim to upcycle reconstruct and deconstruct materials to honor a mixed media approach to my visual narratives Evocative juxtapositions result in a fusion of history art and storytelling A playful enchantment with a protagonist approach connects past and present themes in my artistic practice I create work suspended deep within a surface embodying a painterly and otherworldly esthetic

35 Carmen Amaya Badiaa Masabni Anna Pavlova Gold Anna Pavlova Copper

36 MARWA KHAMIS Alexandria Instagram painterkhamis I am Marwa Khamis an emerging Egyptian Artist My practice is painting I have participated in 15 online international exhibitions in India France and Spain as well as three national exhibitions and two workshops during college My artwork has also been published globally in many international magazines including those based in Britain Canada Belgium Hong Kong and in a Google Book as an art exhibit The art for me is not just an image but an idea summed up by design I found Abstraction Surrealism and Cubism to be useful in the rearranging of received ideas by using Gouache color for its versatility it can mimic the look and feel of acrylic watercolor and even oil paint The paintings are abstract and artistic they rely on an imaginary world whose source is the unconscious to liberate from the constraints of reality through abstract shapes in which there is a reduction and simplification in the abstraction of shapes and the satisfaction of the expressive features in them

37 Composite No 1 Composite No 4 Composite No 2 Composite No 3 From the Future

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CULTURALLY 40 Our mission is for individuals to embrace their creativity and ignite their passion shaping a global platform working on tangible reform for accessibility and representation in the arts Our purpose is to advocate that art is for everyone and by everyone We work to utilize the arts for social justice efforts for students to use their passions for global change Our biggest advocacy effort is toward representation in the arts we have members branches and communities in 60 countries on 6 continents Culturally advocates for the inclusion of people from every background and corner of the world regardless of level of practice or socioeconomic means We aim to provide a platform for artists of all ages from emerging students to established artists to develop their craft through education We strive to provide the utmost professional development through opportunities with an international impact Our work is to eliminate and abolish the deeply ingrained elitist and exclusive stigmas around the arts so we offer an artist directory social media network interviews and more to increase opportunities for aspiring artists

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