Kiona Callihoo Ligtvoet (she/her) is a cree, métis, and Dutch-settler artist descending from Michel First Nation. Kiona lives in amiskwaciwâskahikan, where she primarily works in painting, printmaking, and comic arts, while exploring stories of grief and tenderness.
Her practice uses a non-linear telling of memories through narrative work as a form of personal archiving. It draws from feelings of loss and enfranchisement, but also from moments of deep belly laughter and a fondness for where she grew up with her moshom, mom, brother, and many relatives.
Paired with her studio practice, Kiona has also been working alongside other artists in initiatives of community care, co-organizing Making Space in partnership with Sanaa Humayun.
Most recently Kiona has shown collaboratively in sahkitok mistahi at Ociciwan Contemporary Art Centre, and in her solo show These Are the Things at Latitude 53. She likes gossiping in prairie grasses and visiting her moshom on the farm (though she herself is not a very good farmer).
You can reach Kiona at kiona@making-space.ca
Sanaa Humayun (she/her) is an artist, writer, & curator, living and working in Hamilton, ON. Her practice thinks about non-narrative story telling, secret keeping, and play and joy as acts of resistance. She primarily works in textile and paint, and is an avid weaver. Her curatorial practice considers how curatorial frameworks can be reconsidered to prioritise friendship and reciprocity. She is passionate about fostering community, through means of food, laughter, and an unapologetic love of gossip.
Along with Kiona Callihoo Ligtvoet, Sanaa co-organizes Making Space - a peer mentorship group for early-career BIPOC artists. You can usually find her laughing a little too loudly with her friends in public places.
You can reach Sanaa at sanaa@making-space.ca