Matias Martinez
Como Se Dice La RAZA

November 2025 - March 2026

I am an Indigenous Latin American artist of Mapuche/Maya descent exploring identity, memory, and mythology through glass, painting, media arts, and sculpture. My practice is rooted in emotion, experimentation, and cultural reconnection. I work rhizomatically, letting each piece grow from intuition, personal experience, and ancestral stories. My current work blends traditional Latinx and Indigenous mythologies with contemporary materials like upcycled objects, molten glass, and projection. These hybrid creatures and glowing forms act as living translations, holding both the weight of history and the spark of imagination. Through this process, I ask, "How do we tell stories that were taken from us? How do we remake ourselves in their absence?" My work becomes a space for remembering and reimagining. At its core, my art is about survival, community, and the power of self-definition. It’s a way of making sense of the chaos, by shaping it, naming it, and letting it speak back.

“Como Se Dice La RAZA” is a multidisciplinary exhibition exploring Latinx identity, mythology, and cultural memory through glass, media arts, painting, and upcycled sculpture. The title reflects the complex, evolving meanings of la raza, a term tied to both pride and resistance, and asks: how do we speak about who we are, and who we’ve been made to be? This body of work reimagines ancestral myths through hybrid creatures, glowing glass forms, and layered installations that blend traditional symbolism with contemporary materials. Each piece acts as a translation, imperfect, poetic, alive, between generations, geographies, and identities. Rooted in my Mapuche and Latin American heritage, Como Se Dice La RAZA invites viewers into a vivid world of reclaimed stories, where mythology becomes a tool for remembering, resisting, and remaking.

Liss Febrero & aloT of Poetry
The Power She Holds

November 2025 - March 2026

The Power She Holds is a collaborative reflection on memory, identity, and the quiet strength found in handmade craft. As an illustrator and a poet, we want to bring our practices and cultures together through textiles, stitched literature, and imagery into stories shaped by heritage, womanhood, and community into a muralistic-esque installation.

Our work leans into the weight of traditional techniques, treating fabric and thread not just as materials, but as symbols of connection, care, and continuity. Each piece carries a layered story—deeply personal, yet shared and familiar.

With this exhibition, we honour making as both ancestral knowledge and a form of present day resistance. Every stitch carries memory. Every thread speaks. We honour the hands that mend, create, and hold—keepers of what came before and what’s still to come.

Liss Febrero and aloT of Poetry share a passion for creating art that celebrates diverse voices. Their collaboration began when Liss illustrated the cover of aloT of Poetry's upcoming debut book of poetry, leading to a strong connection and respect for each other’s work. Liss is a digital and visual artist and muralist who creates colorful illustrations that explore themes of self-discovery, resilience, and healing, while aloT of Poetry is an arts manager, facilitator, and author who writes and performs poetry that shares stories of strength, culture, community, and connections. Together, they can give communities a solid sense of place and identity, creating powerful collaborative works that will inspire empathy, unity, and connection.

Erçan Tāmati Cairns
Tangata whenua, People of the Land

November 2025 - March 2026

Ngāi Tūhoe - Erçan Tāmati Cairns is a bold and passionate emerging artist whose innovative approach has gained recognition in Tāmaki Makaurau's dynamic art scene. A proud uri of Ngāi Tūhoe, Erçan bridges the gap between ancestral mōhiotanga and contemporary artistic expression through his distinct fusion of fluid acrylics and richly textured oil pastels. His layered, intuitive compositions pulse with energy and emotion, revealing an aesthetic that pays homage to influences such as Emily Karaka, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Picasso while forging a unique and authentic voice.

Erçan's confident gestural mark-making is immediate, expressive, and raw, reflecting both his deep connection to cultural roots and his fearless exploration of modern art forms. Eschewing traditional Mātauranga Māori visual structures such as kōwhaiwhai, whakairo, and raranga, Erçan opts to reimagine these motifs with gestural vitality and vibrant color, imbuing his symbols with a dynamic wairua that expresses his interpretation

He tino kaha te aurere, te torotia, te akoranga o tēnei kaimahi toiataata. Erçan does not follow the customary symbolism of Mātauranga Māori kowhaiwhai, whakairo or raranga which have definite structures of tapu/noa, rhymical patterns of curvilinear and rectilinear shapes that have a balance of positive and negative spaces

Grounded in the whenua of Te Urewera, Erçan draws inspiration from time spent with his whānau at Ruatāhuna, hunting with his father, and connecting to the land near their marae Ōhāua, accessible only by horseback or hiking

He tino nui tōna kaha mō ngā toiataata. This bond with his whakapapa is an integral thread in his practice, manifesting in his courageous exploration of identity, heritage, and the boundaries of contemporary Māori and Tongan visual culture. A self-taught artist, Erçan’s development has been fueled by passion, perseverance, and an openness to learning through collaboration with renowned artists such as Fatu Feu’u, Emily Karaka, Donn Rātana, Tavita Latu, Taniela Petelo, Terje Kolomatangi and Alexis Neal. Erçan has cultivated a practice rooted in rigorous research and expressive innovation , all whilst being guided and mentored by some of our greatest Pacific Artists.

Erçan Tāmati Cairns stands at the forefront of a new wave of Māori artists, fearlessly challenging conventions while honoring his whakapapa. His works resonate with the vitality of contemporary Aotearoa and hold the promise of significant contributions to the future of art in Aotearoa and beyond.

Carrie Yap
We came here to settle, but we could not leave it all behind

November 2025 - March 2026

As a milliner of Chinese descent, I began exploring traditional Chinese crafts as a tribute to my ancestry, particularly focusing on Cantonese opera which was a familiar sound and sight in my childhood. The pieces on display trace the evolution of this art form, moving from the traditional Chinese craft of paper and glue to the refined techniques of couture millinery. Though the materials and methods differ, both share a profound commitment to hand craftsmanship — every detail shaped by human hands and untouched by machinery.

With the former Olympic Plaza undergoing a transformation on the site of Calgary’s first Chinatown, it feels deeply meaningful to share these works now. The first Chinese settlers who came to build the railway also brought their culture, stories, and love for Cantonese opera. Through this exhibition, I hope to invite Canadian audiences to see and feel the beauty of this art form — one that has quietly endured here for more than a century. What resonates most deeply for me is the parallel between my own journey and that of Cantonese opera’s migration to Canada: both have found new homes while holding fast to the desire to remain connected to their origins.