It’s Familiar Artist Panel
Friday, October 3 | 7pm – 8:30pm
Listen to the curator and artists from ‘It’s Familiar’ discuss the concepts and ideas that brought this exhibition to life in this panel discussion, and learn more about the artworks from the artists themselves.
It’s Familiar brings together five first-generation Canadian artists: Maryam Bagheri, Desa Kalem, Netsanet Shawl, Lourdes Still, and Giancarlo Vitor, who co-created this exhibition through a deeply collaborative, participatory process. Led by curator Alireza Bayat, the project unfolded over six weeks of dialogue, storytelling, and creative exchange. The group explored themes of identity, migration, memory, and belonging, seeking common ground in the unfamiliar terrain of diasporic experience.
The exhibition’s title reflects these shared discoveries. Moments of recognition, of seeing one’s own story mirrored in another’s, became central to the process. Drawing from Participatory Design and methodologies like collaborative playwriting and inventive theatre, each artist’s work is shaped not only by their own experience, but by conversations and connections with one another. The resulting artworks form an interconnected network, distinct yet inseparable, personal yet communal.
It’s Familiar invites viewers to experience not only the finished artworks but the process behind them, a curatorial model that foregrounds inclusion, reciprocity, and the creative potential of shared authorship.
This exhibition was made possible through the generous support of The Winnipeg Foundation in celebration of Winnipeg’s 150th anniversary.
