McMaster Museum of Art is pleased to present Where We Intersect: Identities, Environments, Activisms, the graduating exhibition for the McMaster University BFA class of 2023.

SUMMA 2023: Where We Intersect
April 6 – 28, 2022
Curated by Mosa McNeilly

Artists: Lano Aluko, Mariana Ardila Ossot, Ariella Boltinsky, Wren Breeze, Raechell Brory, Tanisha Bryan, Ben Cumming, Tristyna Gayle, Eden Griffin, Gabriella Gyorgypal, Pauline Halsey, Linah Hegazi, Olivia Maletic, Breezy Nepitali, Jessica Nguyen, Kenzie Robichaud, Sean Ross, Joseph Soldo Mirkhai, Amy Trakalo, Faith Wilson, Nadia Woodside

Where We Intersect: Identities, Environments, Activisms is a group exhibition featuring the work of graduating Studio Art students in the School of the Arts at McMaster University. The exhibition represents a diversity of artistic and thematic explorations from a compelling cohort of undergraduate students. The title of the exhibition speaks to a collective impetus to find points of connection within a heterogeneity of approaches, perspectives, identities, and motivations. The spectrum of expressions is indicative of a group of emerging artists wrestling with making sense of a contemporary moment defined by a global pandemic, by senseless violence, astonishing waste, environmental devastation, and existential angst. Through making art they strive to make meaning for themselves, while offering to their audience a portrait of a particular generation. Their works convey a sober yet hopeful collective inquiry into cultivating resilience in turbulent times.

About the Curator

Mosa McNeilly sees her work as part of a canon of Black women artists, scholars, activists, and spiritual practitioners concerned with social justice, cultural reclamation, and freedom. Working through art, performance, and ritual practices, Mosa investigates themes of Middle Passage memory and memorialization. Centring the Black female subject, and employing hybrid Yoruba, Adinkra, and Vodou iconographies, she brings encaustic, assemblage, and installation into conversation with clown, movement, and voice.

In her arts education practice, Mosa has delivered hundreds of projects and performances reaching thousands of learners. With a focus on serving Black children, she seeks to foster African cultural literacy, cultivate Black agency, and nurture Black self-love. In her spiritual and wellness work, as an initiated Sacred Leader, Mosa raises awareness about anti-Black racism and curates spaces for Black healing. As a mentor and Elder in the Black community, she is called on to offer guidance to Black youth and young adults.