Federico Airaudo
Migrant Species

May - October 2026

‘Animating Diversity at the Calgary Stampede,' brings an unconventional view of multi-species diversity in Calgary by tuning in to common happenings, as well as eye-catching theatrical events at the 2026 Stampede. The exhibit engages overlapping themes of human-animal relations, diversity and inclusion, and community-building – my art practice as a new immigrant, and collaboration with TD Incubator mentors, will be the creative force for bringing these themes into lively public dialogue.

The exhibit holds potential to animate alternative stories of immigration and cultural diversity and provoke a shared sense of curiosity for human-animal exchanges in Calgary whereby everyone (not only those who are new to this place) might re-encounter the Calgary Stampede anew.

The exhibit enables me to mobilize my artwork toward new connections among a diverse audience. Importantly, my project has the potential to bring fellow newcomer Calgarians into collective spaces of art spectatorship, and public discourse around human-animal relations in Calgary.

Artist Statement

Through drawing and painting, Federico’s residency at the Werklund Centre researches ordinary life in Calgary’s downtown core— a place that is unfamiliar to him as a newcomer artist. The artworks created in this residency engage with this sense of estrangement, not as a deficit, but rather as a generative force for artmaking and creation. Federico’s residency will bring an unconventional, playful exploration of multi-species diversity across Ecuador and Calgary by tuning into the everyday social rhythms of these two distinct places.