Women in Mural Art: Building Careers – Artist Talks
Mural Routes and East End Arts are hosting Women in Mural Art: Building Careers – curated by artists Fiya Bruxa and FATSPATROL. This is an opportunity for mural artists and mural art enthusiasts in Canada to hear, learn and network with established women mural artists working on an international scale.
*** Please note that the term “women” is used here for shorthand, and that our project includes all female-identifying and gender-marginalized people.
On April 27, 2024, we will host a full day of artist talks and panel discussion at the Centre for Social Innovation which will be open to the public. Registration fee is $10 and includes lunch and light refreshments.
Guest Artists include: Lauren YS aka @squid.licker, Vanessa AGANA Espinoza ( @dj_agana), Jasmin Siddiqui aka @hera_herakut, Shalak Attack (@shalakattack) and EGR (@egrartist).
Lauren YS, AGANA and Hera will each present about their individual practice, creative process and the projects they have worked on over their careers. Their presentations will be followed by a Q&A for participants to ask questions. Later in the day, these artists will be joined by Canada-based artists Shalak and EGR and program curators FATSPATROL and Fiya Bruxa in a panel discussion. The panel will delve deeper into current issues of the mural/street art industry from their own lived experience.
Artist speakers information, Event Agenda and Registration link are listed below.
Event Agenda
10:00 am
Welcome
10:15 am
Artist talk with Lauren YS
11:30 am
Artist talk with Vanessa AGANA Espinoza
12:30 pm
Lunch break
1:30 pm
Artist talk with Jasmin Siddiqui aka Hera
3:00 pm
Panel discussion with Q&A
5:00 pm
Closing
Guest Artists
Lauren YS
About Lauren YS
Lauren YS is a Los Angeles-based artist whose work is influenced by multiple stages of focus, both geographically and in practice. Carrying a B.A. in English and Fine Art from Stanford University, Lauren applies their dynamic bouts in academics, literature, illustration, comics and animation to their role the urban art sphere as a queer Asian-American femme with a deep passion for visual storytelling. Their signature style of high-chroma design elements interwoven with dynamic portraiture creates lush, florid pictorial portals to worlds that are as just as they are visually captivating. Lauren’s work seeks to bring an element of the fantastical and narrative fluidity to the dignity of their characters’ person-hoods, with a specific passion for creating space for queer and mixed-race stories. From large scale murals to multi-layered works on canvas, Lauren’s work draws inspiration from queer worlds, non-binary identities, mythology, dreams, psychedelia, animation, cybernetic organisms, travel, nature, human dignity, metaphysical wonderings and their mixed Asian-American heritage.
Lauren’s vision encapsulates the lifetime search for identity and self-hood, a love of local myth, and the constant pursuit of promoting conversations about selfhood and just futures.
Vanessa AGANA Espinoza
About Vanessa AGANA
Known to the world as AGANA, (American, b.1982) Vanessa Solari Espinoza is an internationally acclaimed multi-dimensional contemporary artist converging traditional large scale murals and contemporary street art.
Rooted in her Latinx identity of Venezuelan descent, hailing from the San Francisco Bay Area, Agana paints prolific imagery as calls to action encompassing black liberation, women’s empowerment, environmental and racial justice issues.
Impactful and intentional to the specific locations they are placed in, Agana’s artistry adds color and light to what would be blight.
From the juxtaposition of being a reality TV show star to fruitful community-building engagement, Agana’s murals have not only been a healing tool from violence in the hood but have actually saved lives.
AGANA translates the mural process into cultural work of layered storytelling provoking visibility to otherwise marginalized experiences while stimulating transformative conceptualism for diverse audiences.
Agana’s dexterity gives vibrant life to any public surface by spraying gradients of bold and bursting gestures forming iconic pictorial imagery.
When the viewers of her work witness relatable reflections of self as painted stories into the walls and borders intended to divide and separate, the context is transformed by connecting and bringing people together.
Agana’s expertise reflects the Pan American experience, premiering at the intersection of graffiti and fine art praxis, communicating common social threads via monumental vision.
photo by Meike Spanner
Jasmin Siddiqui aka Hera
About HERA
HERA (Jasmin Siddiqui, *1981) is a Frankfurt-born German-Pakistani painter with artistic roots in the graffiti and street art genre. She has been traveling the world since 2001 painting large-scale murals, solo or as part of the duo HERAKUT. The biggest outdoor pieces are being located in Sao Paolo, Miami, Moscow, Reykjavik, Melbourne, Berlin, Kampala and Washington DC. Besides the mural work, her artwork has been displayed in museum exhibitions such as the Rogaland Kunstmuseum in Stavanger, Norway, in 2007, the Pera Museum in Istanbul, Turkey, 2015, the Urban Nations Museum in Berlin in 2018, the STRAAT Museum in Amsterdam in 2022, MACA Museum in Copenhagen in 2024.
Hera was part of „Artists for Human Rights“, the first ever street art exhibition inside the European Parliament in Brussels in December 2022. In 2023 she has worked on several United Nations funded projects with the NGO „Streetart for Mankind“ promoting social change. This in line with Hera´s continuous effort utilize street art for humanitarian causes. In the past she has collaborated with various humanitarian aid organizations, such as Unicef or The Global Fund, Save the Children and Viva Con Agua and more on art programs and workshops focusing on children and underprivileged youth.
Hera´s work has been featured in numerous books, starting with “Graffiti Woman” (2006), “Mural Art” (2008), “Beyond the Street” (2010), “Graffiti Alphabets” (2011), “Mural Masters” (2018), “Alter Ego” (2019), and “Street Art Guide Berlin” (2020), „Streetart is Female“ (2022), apart of her own books: “Herakut – The Perfect Merge” (2008) and After The Laughter – The 2nd book of Herakut” (2012).
Shalak Attack
About Shalak Attack
“Shalak Attack” is an award winning Canadian-Chilean visual artist dedicated to painting, multi-media studio arts and is well known for her large scale spray paint murals.
Since 2005, she has manifested her artistic expression on walls across the world. Shalak
has participated in numerous artistic projects, festivals and exhibitions in Canada, Chile, Brazil, UK, Holland, Germany, Sweden, Senegal, Palestine, Jordan, Israel, Belgium, Spain, Argentina, Venezuela, Mexico, USA, Paraguay, and the Dominican Republic. She is a co-founder and co-director of the international art collectives “Clandestinos Art” and the “Essencia Art Collective”.
In Shalak’s artistic practice, she fuses the spirit of South American muralism with contemporary street art culture. Whether on the street or in her studio, Shalak’s distinctive multi-layered and signature use of colour are emblematic of her unique style that inhabits the realm of psychedelic magical realism. Specializing on her acclaimed series of evocative animal and human portraits, she creates visual narratives that strive to honour the sacred power of Nature.
Her murals have contributed culture, life, consciousness and personality to public and
otherwise forgotten spaces. Shalak shares her passion for freedom of expression, and has facilitated visual art workshops to at risk youth, women and community empowerment groups, as well as prisoners in various countries across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and in Africa. Her artistic work and community art-reach is rooted in social and cultural values she received from her family who immigrated to Canada as part of the Chilean political diaspora caused by the country’s military dictatorship in the 1970’s.
Shalak graduated from Concordia University with a Bachelor’s degree in Studio Arts with
honours, and studied one year of Fine Arts in the Universidad Autónoma Benito Juarez de Oaxaca, Mexico. She received a certificate for Business Coaching for Women Artists from the Centre d’Entrepreneriat Féminin du Québec, as well as a College certificate (A.E.C.) in Community Website Productions from College Ahuntsic, (Montréal, QC). In 2005-2006 Shalak participated in an internship program with Alternatives (Montréal) and Afro Reggae (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), an NGO that uses art as a tool to engage youth as an alternative to the high risk of violence and drug trafficking of the favelas. Shalak considers her most impacting education to have come directly from the diverse communities she has had the opportunity to collaborate with around the world.
Her artwork has been published in books, magazines, newspapers, and has been inter-
viewed in television news and radio, as well as received awards and funding for numerous art projects from federal, provincial and municipal grants for over a decade.
Currently, Shalak is based in Ontario, Canada with her husband and artistic collaborator, “Bruno Smoky”, as well as their very young magical daughter, Violeta , whom now accompanies them on their creative adventures.
EGR
About EGR
EGR is an award-winning contemporary visual artist based in Toronto, Canada. She is a badass creator whose work challenges perceptions of public art and graffiti, portraying the dichotomy between nature and industry. In a metaphorical framework, EGR’s art delves into the notion of finding her place in the world by depicting female archetypes within wondrous urban and natural settings; fantastical characters both blessed and burdened by our modern lifestyle. Armed figures represent strength and empowerment; whereas winged characters and fairies convey vulnerability and angels among us. Well-known for live painting performances at international events and festivals, EGR’s ability to create stunning large scale pieces on a variety of surfaces combines artistic flair and skill with a deep love of music, nature and urban culture.
Graffiti artist turned illustrator EGR picked up spray cans as a teen studying Art and Illustration at Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario. A young entrepreneur inspired by DIY and hip hop culture, she’d paint live at shows and raffle off the piece created; and paint Toronto’s notorious Queen Street alleyways in events 416 Graffiti Expo, Style In Progress, ReSurface and Manifesto. Appearing on MUCH Music to discuss art directing Juno nominated hip hop legends Brass Munk’s MUCH Music Video Award (MMVA) nominated animated music video; and painting live-to-air, left her mark on Canada’s visual landscape.
From illustrations to murals; EGR art has appeared in books, magazines, newspapers, album covers and everything in between. Her work was included in Canada’s first national exhibition of street art at a major Canadian museum: the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) at the Institute for Contemporary Culture, at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO), The McMichael Canadian Art Collection; and in galleries and collections worldwide across North America, Australia, UK, Brazil, Italy and Japan.
Ongoing group exhibition, “Still Tho”, curated by Mark V. Campbell of Northside Hip Hop Archive features graffiti and street art heavyweights Curly, Dedos, Eklipz, Elicser, EGR, MissMe and more; and features EGR’s large scale, “Evolution of Graffiti and Revolt” canvas along with vintage spray cans featuring her art and murals. The show has exhibited in Ottawa, London, UK, Tokyo, Japan and will exhibit in Montreal and Halifax in 2024 .
Clients include The City of Toronto, Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), The Canadian International Auto Show, Universal Music, MUCH Music, Tommy Boy Entertainment, Toyota, VW, BOSS, Roland, Fender, Indigo Books & Music, The Globe and Mail and Toronto Star newspapers, Footaction by Footlocker and Sephora. In-store activations and customizations on products and interiors have included luxury and high end brands Fenty, Urban Decay, NARS and M.A.C. Cosmetics, Rag and Bone, Rebecca Minkoff, Tiffany & Co., Holt Renfrew and The House of Creed.
Curators & Moderators
photo by Stan Clawson
Fathima Mohiuddin aka FATSPATROL
About Fathima
Fatspatrol (Fathima Mohiuddin) is an award-winning artist and curator of Indian origin, born and raised in the UAE with 10 years in Toronto and 2 in London. A true 3rd culture kid. Having painted murals in 10 countries, commissioned on commercial projects for brands including Red Bull and Tiger Beer and worked on outreach projects with challenged communities in Jordan and India, her career as a curator and artist captures the place of art in society from all angles. Fathima believes fundamentally in art’s ability to help heal and move the world forward as well as being a means of making sense of our existence, creating human connection and awareness, and finding universal truths. Her bold graphic style of drawing is a hybrid language from a medley of influences. Summers in India with humanitarian grandparents exposed to Indian folk art, artifacts and mythology. Growing up in multicultural Dubai in a Muslim home exposed to Islamic art, calligraphy, henna and folklore. The sister of a cartoonist reading comic books as kids. Her mother’s love for language, poetry and narrative. All of this combined, Fatspatrol’s work tells poetic personal stories with universal notes. Her interest in mark-making explores an innate human inclination to express, depict and find meaning through expression.
Fatspatrol, Fathima, has a BA in studio art and culture and an MA in sociology. Her works range in medium from digital drawing to large scale murals, installation and painting. She is currently based between Toronto and Dubai seasonally.
Fiya Bruxa
About Fiya
Fiya Bruxa is an international award-winning visual artist, actor, filmmaker, and playwright. Her artistic vision explores and celebrates the beauty, dignity and perseverance of those who have, or continue to, overcome adversity and oppression. Fiya’s visual stories are expressed through canvas, mural, graffiti and installation, featuring exhibitions in select galleries, and large-scale murals in Toronto, Montreal, New York, Sweden, UK, Senegal, Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Venezuela and Colombia. In 2015, she painted the largest collective mural in Canada alongside her Essencia Art Collective, located in Toronto. For over 15 years,
Fiya has collaborated with local and international communities using art as a tool for social change and community empowerment. She has also worked in policy development and evaluation management. She holds a BFA in Theatre Performance from Concordia University, and a Masters of Global Affairs from the Munk School at the University of Toronto.
Location & Directions
Centre for Social Innovation – 192 Spadina Ave. Toronto, M5T 2C2 (click for map)
TTC Directions
Take the Bloor Line to Spadina Station. Take the 510 Streetcar South exiting at Spadina and Sullivan. Walk south to the Centre for Social Innovation on the west side of Spadina Ave.
Driving Directions
Take the Gardiner downtown exiting at the Spadina exit. Travel North of Queen St W and the Centre for Social Innovation is on the West side of the street. Parking: There is limited paid street parking on Spadina Ave. The closest Green P garage is just off Spadina at the entrance to Grange Ave.
FAQ
Register here:
Women in Mural Art: Building Careers – Artist Talks
The deadline to register for this even has now passed. If you need more information please contact Kim Dayman: kim@muralroutes.ca
