JOSEFINA RODRÍGUEZ VARELA • JASMINE MACGREGOR • SADIA FAKIH
07 JANUARY – 18 FEBRUARY, 2022
CURATED BY JENNA KLEIN-WALLER
HAND PIC’D
VIVIANEART is pleased to present the 8th edition of our annual invitational exhibition, HAND PIC’D. HAND PIC’D continues a precedent of celebrating emerging artists and recent graduates within the local Calgary arts community.
Presenting works by Jasmine MacGregor, Sadia Fakih and Josefina Rodríguez Varela, HAND PIC’D features three artists exploring themes of womanhood, femininity and eroticism through a multi-disciplinary approach. Through each of their respective practices, MacGregor, Fakih and Rodríguez Varela explore their cultural heritage through a female lens as a means to instill empowerment, strength and belonging.
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Watch our virtual artist conversation HERE.
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Jasmine MacGregor is an Anishinaabekwe artist who was raised in Calgary Alberta. Her mother and grandmother instilled in her what it is to be a strong woman and she’s carried this forward into her historical and artistic investigations. Jasmine graduated from Alberta University of the Arts with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (2020) and has built a practice that explores urban Indigeneity. She is interested in what it means to be an Indigenous woman and how tradition blends with contemporary living. Working with modern and easily accessible materials, Jasmine explores her relationship with Indigeneity and the space that’s been created through culture and time. Jasmine has been a part of the BMO 1st ART! exhibition of 2020, the OPIP artist residency, and most recently the Marion Nicoll Gallery Summer Camp artist residency.
Josefina Rodríguez Varela is a multidisciplinary artist living in Calgary, Alberta, Treaty 7 Territory since 2010. Her current practice and research explores themes of eroticism and sexuality, from a feminine and personal perspective. She combines her skills in drawing and sculpting, as well as her training in ceramics, to create narratives that challenge social standards and encourage conversation around pleasure and desire. She graduated with distinction from the Alberta University of the Arts in 2021, where she received a BFA in Ceramics. Josefina’s work has shown in Arts Commons (2021) and Marion Nicoll Gallery (2020).
Sadia Fakih’s work explores cultural hybridity, displacement, intersectionality, and the Surreal. Through her collage-drawings, she expresses her place (or displacement) as a south-asian feminine in the West. She explores the transitional spaces that erupt when imposing identities collide. Sadia received her BFA from Alberta University of the Arts in 2017 and her MFA in Fine Arts from the School of Visual Arts in New York City in 2019, and was selected for the Paula Rhodes Memorial Award for Exceptional Artistic Achievement upon graduation. Her work has been included in exhibitions at Tiger Strikes Asteroid (New York), the School of Visual Arts Flat Iron Gallery and Nuit Blanche (Toronto). She recently was an Artist-in-Residence (2D) at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. She has an active studio practice in Calgary, Canada and is a sessional instructor at the University of Calgary in the Faculty of Arts.
Jenna Klein-Waller is a curator and arts administrator living and working out of Mohkinstsis, Calgary. She attended Concordia University, Montreal and graduated with a BFA (honors) in Art History and Film Studies. Jenna is the former Director of VIVIANEART gallery and has curated and co-curated four Hand Pic’d exhibitions over the years. She also served on the Board of Directors of The Bows artist run centre (formerly UAS) from 2017-2022. She is currently the Director of Programming and Engagement for The GRAND, working closely with local artists to create sustainable, rewarding opportunities in the arts.
