Since its early 20th-century inception COLLAGE has been employed as a political/ anti-political art form, and because of this, some critical theorists argue that it has a particular potential for today’s climate. However, if this year’s collection of collage- based works trembles with politics, they appear to spring from more literary spaces, aesthetics, and philosophies.

Informed by Sova’s deep practical and theoretical knowledge of contemporary art the Aird’s online COLLAGE 2024 project, performs as a broad-based survey highlighting handmade and digital works collage-based works by contemporary Canadian and International artists: Jackson Abrams, Doug Adams, Reginald Balanga, Anne Boulton, Isadara Bulaklak, Mike Callaghan, Johanni Carsen, Celeste Carter, Danielle Coleman, Simone Collins, Jack Cunningham, Alex Currie, Judy Daley, Pauline De four, Ben Dinino, Veronica Dorsett, Beatrice Eberahrd, Christina Foisy, Diane Forrest, Richelle Forsey, Paul Foster, Nikola Gocic, Anita Granger, Arnie Guha, Julia Hacker, Janice Hardacre, David Harrison, Sarah Hunter, Jim Ingles, Markos Kampanis, Lisa Kemp, Anupa Khemadasa, Jane Laster-Gordon, Maureen Lowry, Dannell Macilwraith, Daniel Maluka, Tina Manttari, Lisa Mason, Marilyn Mccallum, Anthony Micallef, Geoffrey Odgers, Anita Olanick, Jangmee Park, Erik Parra, Emanuel Pavao, Cherie Rahkola, Leena Raudvee, Tricia W Rawlins, Jeff Rozdeba, Viz Saraby, New moon Studios, James Supriya, Kate Sutherland, Kate Taylor, Goran Tomic, Freddie Towe, Ann Towell, Edward Tsui, Jordan Utting, Ahmet Uzuner, Elizabeth Willmott, Joanna Zakrzewski, and Elzbieta Zdunek.

JUROR’S BIOGRAPHY

Ilene Sova identifies as Mixed Race, with a white settler, Afro-Caribbean, and Black Seminole ancestry. She is also an artist who lives with the disability of Epilepsy. As such, she passionately identifies with the tenets of intersectional feminism and has dedicated her creative career to art and activism. Sova is also the founder of the Feminist Art Collective and Blank Canvases, an in-school creative arts programme for elementary school students. She holds an Honours BFA from the University of Ottawa in Painting and an MFA in Painting and Drawing from the University of Windsor. With extensive solo and group exhibitions in Canada and abroad, Sova’s work has most notably been shown at the Museum of Canadian Contemporary Art, the Department of Canadian Heritage, and Mutuo Centro de Arte in Barcelona. Sova’s artwork has been featured internationally in the Journal of Psychology and Counselling, the Nigerian Arts Journal, Tabula, and the Italian feminist journal, Woman’O’Clock.

In her academic career, Sova holds the position of Ada Slaight Chair of Contemporary Drawing and Painting in the Faculty of Art at Ontario College of Art and Design University. She has been invited to speak on diversity and equity in the arts curriculum at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Pratt University, and the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design conference in Los Angeles. A passionate public speaker, Sova was chosen to speak at the first TEDx Women event in Toronto, and Southern University New York where she gave a University Lecture on Art and Social Change. Additionally, Sova was invited to deliver the Arthur C. Danto Memorial Keynote Lecture at the 76th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Aesthetics (ASA). Sova’s exhibitions and advocacy in education have been featured on Global Television, CBC Radio, the Toronto Star, Canada AM, The Metro, National Post, Canadian Art, and MSN News.