For immediate release—

All female paint jam Women Paint transforms Parkdale lane into an outdoor gallery ​ ​

TORONTO—(July 6, 2017) From July 14 to 16, nineteen female-identified artists will transform 2,000 ​ ​ ​ square feet in a vandalized Parkdale alleyway into a series of murals expressing intersectional feminism—a perspective that acknowledges the overlapping identities that shape individual experiences.

With support from the City of Toronto Transportation Services Division’s StreetARToronto program, the 19 emerging and established Toronto-based artists will turn the laneway that runs north behind 1468-1486 Queen Street West—between Lansdowne Avenue and MacDonell Avenue—into an outdoor art gallery. Working side by side, the collective will paint 18 murals that respond to the theme of "Intersectional Feminism: Representing Diverse Experiences". The murals will be as stylistically diverse as the artists creating them; designs will include portraits, florals inspired by Eslimi designs, and a bold typographic statement to name a few.

“Women Paint is empowering female street artists by providing them an opportunity to showcase their ​ ​ talent and tell their stories,” says Bareket Kezwer, herself a Parkdale-based artist, who is organizing the paint jam. “As women, it’s important that we add our underrepresented voices into the public sphere.”

Women Paint invites community members and mural enthusiasts to meet the artists and be inspired by ​ ​ the murals at the closing celebration on Sunday, July 16 from 3:00-7:00pm. Light snacks will be served.

StreetARToronto (StART) is supporting Women Paint in partnership with the Toronto Police Service 11 ​ ​ Division through the StreetARToronto Toronto Police Service Partnership Program. StART is a pro-active program that develops, supports, promotes and increases awareness of street art and its unique role in adding beauty and character to neighbourhoods across Toronto, while also counteracting graffiti vandalism and its harmful effect on communities. StART's mission is to revitalize and engage communities through street and mural art while embracing the City's motto "Diversity our Strength". Additional support has been provided by the DRAKE Hotel and the Parkdale Village BIA.

“The BIA supports numerous community events in Parkdale and this wonderful project falls in line with our commitment to street art, beautification and community engagement,” says Anna Bartula, Director of the Parkdale Village BIA.

#WomenPaintTO

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For additional information, please reach out to: Bareket Kezwer, Project Coordinator & Artist [email protected] 647.779.7056

Jodi Callan, StreetARToronto Project Manager [email protected] 416-338-2951

Who are the artists participating in Women Paint? Aitak Sorahitalab Aitak Sorahitalab is an award winning visual artist and art instructor with more than 15 years’ experience. Holding BA and MA from Art university of Tehran, she had held several exhibitions, and was commissioned to create public art in Iran. She worked at Art and Creation Department at KANOON; lecturer at University of Applied Science; and Art Manager at Airsa NGO, worked with UNICEF, UNODC and UNAIDS. Since immigrating to Canada in Oct 2013, she has had some exhibitions, continued teaching while maintaining her artistic production. She won 7 art grants and awards in Canada, and have curated two exhibitions in Toronto.

“Intersectional feminism is so important to me because it aims to include all groups in the movement for equality regardless of color or background. We should be thinking of all groups and not just the ones we are involved in or express an interest in. We have to try to get rid of all biases we hold and aim to include every single minority in our fight for equality.”

@aitakst www.aitak.ca

Andrea Manica Andrea Manica is a freelance illustrator, mural painter, sign painter and artist living in Toronto Canada. She graduated from OCAD University in 2013 with a Bachelor of Design in Illustration. She regularly collaborates with other female painters and together with artists Nicole D'Amario and Melissa Luk, formed an all-girls mural collective in 2014 called the Buck Teeth Girls Club. They have completed pieces throughout Toronto and traveled to Argentina for a mural painting residency in 2015. Andrea has painted murals internationally in Los Angeles USA, Melbourne Australia, and Yogyakarta Indonesia. Her art is inspired by nature, femininity, rebelliousness, and the insertion of beauty in unlikely places. Andrea has a strong attachment to local businesses, and organizations with community focus and feminist ideals.

“I am thrilled to be a part of this painting project. I think it's vital for women to create art in a sphere that is so heavily male-dominated. I look forward to meeting all of the other female-identifying artists involved so we may collaborate in the future!”

“Intersectional feminism to me means bringing forward those who have been oppressed, listening, and placing importance on the experiences of others. To allow space for more stories from people of colour, queer folx, and femmes. Lets bring artwork made by these people to the forefront!”

@andreamanica www.andreamanica.com

Aura Monique Bedard (Aura) is Haudenosaunee (Oneida) artist who grew up in a small town in Southern . She has been deeply and passionately involved in visual arts for 13 years. In 2006, she began a formal study of visual arts at Fanshawe College in London, ON. After three years of studies in London, she moved to Lethbridge, AB to complete an undergraduate degree at the University of Lethbridge. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts (Studio Art) degree in 2010 and returned to Ontario where she began instructing group art lessons with children, youth and adults. Monique currently resides in Tkaronto as an artist, workshop facilitator and muralist. She is inspired by the healing journey: "I have the passion for community engagement, and collaboration where stories are shared through the art making process. It is my aim to empower people by focusing on our strengths. My goal is to build art projects that lead to a deep sense of understanding while connecting through unity, collaboration and transformation."

“This project is important to me because it creates spaces for our voices. We have a lot to express and having a wall to visually tell our stories empowers me and supports my healing journey.”

@auralast http://auralast.wixsite.com/auralast

Bareket Kezwer Bareket Kezwer is a visual artist, muralist and eternal optimist. Her work is motivated by a desire to spread joy, nurture present minded living, cultivate gratitude, and foster new social interactions. She work with bright colours and bold patterns to captivate people’s attention and fill them with delight. She is passionate about creating art that both aesthetically and psychologically brightens the streets and wants to contribute to the collective conversation around positive living.

She has created murals for clients including the City of Toronto, the City of Mississauga, the Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany in Toronto, Facebook Canada, Airbnb Canada, the Steps Initiative, and Baycrest Health Sciences and has been featured in publications including The Globe and ​ Mail and Toronto Life. ​ ​ ​

“I organized Women Paint to connect with my fellow female artists by creating an opportunity for us to tell ​ ​ our stories and amplify the female voice in public space. I saw an opportunity to build a supportive community of female artists, to inspire young women to build meaningful careers through murals and community engagement, and to raise awareness and foster dialogue about intersectionality and equity. In Toronto, a city that celebrates diversity as our strength, I want to create public art that helps communities learn about and from each other.”

@bkez www.bareketkezwer.com

Caitlin Taguibao Caitlin Taguibao is an illustrator, graphic designer and gardener from Toronto, Canada. She has worked with local organizations such as the Toronto Seed Library, Green Thumbs Growing Kids, Greenest City and has been the resident gardener at Artscape Gibraltar Point for the past 3 summers.

Caitlin's interests revolve around community projects and public engagement, which is what led her to paint murals. Her work often incorporates natural elements such as plants, fungi and animals from different places into one, touching upon themes of diversity and mixed identities.

“I am really excited to be a part of this event that is supporting and connecting a group of diverse female artists together. Through the theme of intersectional feminism, we can bring awareness of other marginalized groups and recognize ways in which we can work together to better understand and empower each other.”

@taggybowow www.caitlintaguibao.com

Cheif Lady Bird Chief Lady Bird is an ( and Chippewa) artist from Rama First Nation with paternal ties to Moose Deer Point First Nation. She grew up on-reserve and is currently based in Toronto. Chief Lady Bird’s work exists at the crux of her experience as an Indigenous womyn, wherein critiques of Nationalism and Indigenous identity reclamation meet, resulting in imagery that empowers Indigenous peoples and challenges the lens through which Indigenous people are often viewed. She often creates collaborative murals that allow viewers to step into our worldviews for brief moments, to create dialogue that is imperative to reclaiming our cultural identities in a country that never saw our worth.

Chief Lady Bird also works with woodlands style imagery, photography, digital media and beadwork. Her current series of portraits uses “beaded glyphs” as fragments of made-up visual language that reference wampum belts, syllabics and petroglyphs as a way of understanding the loss of language and culture through Canada’s cultural genocide. These beaded glyphs convince the viewer that they mean something and create tension and frustration between the work and viewer, to emulate the frustration that many Indigenous nations feel who aren’t fluent in their traditional languages.

“Intersectional feminism is important to racialized womyn because Western feminism cannot be applied equally to us without homogenizing our experiences. This project is important because it allows us to share our diverse perspectives, represent ourselves and reclaim control and autonomy over our bodies and spirits through visual culture.”

@chiefladybird www.chiefladybirdart.tumblr.com

Christina Mazzulla Christina is a Toronto based painter. Since graduating from Ontario College of Art & Design in 2012, she continues her creative pursuits with like-minded artists, curators, collectives and other arts organizations. She has been showcasing work throughout Canada, and also remains active within public art sphere through various projects such as murals. Her paintings explore metaphysical environments that challenge the spatial constructs of our regular perceived reality. These multi-layered abstractions work to facilitate an experience of interconnectedness, escapism, and self-discovery.

@cmazzulla http://www.cmazzulla.com/

Courtney Binns Courtney Vera Binns Is a mix media artist based in Toronto. As a traveling artist she finds most of her inspiration through her sketches she does well meeting new people and seeing new land. Courtney creates art that expresses the joy, peace and wonderlust she feels while backpacking. Her goal is to pass that emotion on to others who at times are stressed in a sometimes over stimulating world.

“I think this project is important because there are so many talented female painters in this city. It is amazing to highlight them in one spot!”

@CVBINNS www.courtneybinns.com

Daniela Rocha Daniela’s work is the result of her experiences living and working in various parts of Latin America. The rich and vibrant cultures of the places she’s visited have been her main inspiration to create and share her artistic vision with others. She nourishes and celebrates the land where she was born which is Indigenous territory, she feels very much connected to her roots and she portrays that in her work. As a Canadian-Colombian artist she is empowered by painting around the themes of identity and culture enriching Canadian multiculturalism.

“This event important for me because there are female voices from different cultural and ethnic backgrounds which should be acknowledged and heard until then we'll have real feminism.”

@_musica_

Emily May Rose Emily May Rose is an award-winning artist and illustrator, and owner of Northern Contemporary Gallery. She is constantly being inspired by her experiences and environment, and her work is a reflection of that. With a graphic style that incorporates recurring characters, typography, and meaningful and often humorous scenarios, Emily wants to show you the world from her perspective. Her work appears in many formats, including murals, editorial illustration, gallery shows, apparel designs, and installations.

“Women Paint is important because the entire art world is a boy’s club and I’m sick of seeing dudes get popular with sub-par work while my incredibly talented girlfriends go unnoticed.”

@emilymayrose www.emilymayrose.com/

Hello Kirsten Hello Kirsten draws obsessively, adores adornment, makes art accessible, and collaborates often. She has been creating murals for over a decade, in cities spanning the globe. Her public art installations play with patterning, painted as if successive layers of wallpaper have been removed from a wall, casually revealing the contrasting elements that lay beneath. By showcasing a multiplicity of motifs from around the world, her layered murals represent the diverse intersection of cultures that make up contemporary cities.

Her work has been exhibited in Toronto's AGO, Montreal's Musée des Beaux Arts, and the Shanghai International Arts Festival, and has appeared in numerous publications, including Fast Company, Newsweek, , and BUST.

“Intersectional feminism is about opening up a multiplicity of ways of being. It's about showing that the possibilities are far greater than the narrow range of options we are normally shown. This is particularly important with scenes like street art, which tend to be male-dominated to an almost comical degree, and as such represent a narrow point-of-view.”

@hello.kirsten www.hellokirsten.com

Jieun June Kim Jieun June Kim (b. 1986, Seoul, Korea) lives and works as a multidiciplinary artist in Toronto, Canada. She received her MFA in Visual Arts from Washington University in St. Louis, U.S in 2012 and her BFA from Duksung Women’s University with honors in Seoul, Korea in 2009. She has participated in numerous group exhibitions in Korea, Canada and US. Recent solo exhibitions were held at alternate space NOON in Suwon in Korea.

“I am a Korean immigrant, so it was harder to get into the Canadian art scene. This project will be an opportunity to break down the walls and express myself freely in art.”

@junekima.rt www.jieunjunekim.com

Julieta Arias Julieta was born and raised in Argentina, so her new life in Toronto is completely different. As a young girl, she was very inspired by other Artists that were doing amazing things with their art work; sharing and spreading their message across the city. She thought one day she’d want that to be an artist, so decided to pursue art and become an Artist. As a Latina, she was normally talked down about the dreams she had for herself in life. People often told her that all she’d be good for was cleaning as a maid, or that she’d need to learn how to “properly” speak English first, and because she is a woman, her future would end up being a poor mother living off of welfare.

“Growing up here was a hard challenge for me; people would judge me for everything because I was so different. It’s the hard challenges in life that tries to beat you down, that’s what empowers me to become a stronger woman and prove them wrong. Working on this huge project is so important to me because it sends out a message about strength to other women, let’s us connect to each other’s experiences and reach out to others through our artwork. It’s amazing to see that there are so many loving and supporting communities, helping women gain strength to become the outstanding, beautiful women they were born to be.”

@Originaljulez

KARE KARE is an artist and youth leader who believes positive social change, empowerment of the Self and the community can be achieved through collaboration and creativity. She utilizes street art as a vehicle to explore identity and as an outlet to challenge the ego and societal norms.

“Critical Race Theorist Kimberlé Crenshaw, a black woman, coined the term 'Intersectional Feminism'. This term was created for black women and black non-binary people to analyze the intersections of oppression, racism, and sexism that they specifically face.

As a WOC and feminist, it's important to acknowledge and listen to Indigenous Peoples, Intersectional Feminists, people from LGBTQQIP2SA communities, and other WOC. Feminism is about checking our privileges and being allies with those who aren't middle class, cis-gendered, able-bodied and don't benefit from a hetero-normative patriarchal system.”

#KARE

Monica Wickeler As a trained visual artist who has worked in the large scale painting industry in Toronto for many years, in outdoor advertising as a mural artist and in the film and television industry as a scenic artist, Monica Wickeler has found a love of community and public art. As well as painting community murals in playgrounds, on wading pools and in pedestrian laneways, she has recently enjoyed working with students to inspire them to approach large scale paintings in their own community and taking ownership and pride in who they are and in their neighbourhoods.

“Joining this collaboration of women artists during the Women Paint event is a valuable way for me to connect to other women with a creative spirit. Facing the theme of intersectional feminism as a boyish girl means I will have an opportunity to paint an image of a fierce women who doesn't fit in this patriarchal capitalist society.”

@monicaonthemoon www.monicaonthemoon.ca

Rachel Wilmshurst Rachel Wilmshurst is a Toronto based multidisciplinary artist who has studied across Canada and in New Zealand. She holds an honours Bachelor of Design from Ryerson and has gained a wide variety of professional experience in several art and design based roles over the past decade. Skilled in fine art technique as well as digital processes, Rachel’s projects have included mural painting, public art installation and gallery exhibitions as well as illustration and graphic design for a growing list of local and international clients.

“Toronto is home to a huge cross section of talented female street artists with varying styles, backgrounds and experiences. As intersectionality strives to recognize, appreciate and respect layers of identity, initiatives like Women Paint are a great way for these individual voices to find a collective space and further enrich the visual dialogue of our city.”

@controlartdelete www.rachelwilmshurst.com

Stephanie Bellefleur Stephanie Bellefleur is an Emerging Artist who was born in Venezuela, South America. Stephanie Paullette Bellefleur is not only a Visual Artist – Muralist but is a certified Reiki Practitioner, Gemologist, Traveler, Student, Entrepreneur, Mother, basically a straight up hustler. Stephanie incorporates in much of her work bold colors with strong graphic lines. Stephanie has created a style that embodies both elegance and grit. The importance of her practice is to unify both Fine Art Traditions with Street Art Culture. Bellefleur's most accomplished work to date is assistance to international Mural Artist Phlegm from the UK at Young and St. Clair, Toronto Ontario.

“This project is important because it embodies self love through entrepreneurship and the arts, and supports our young girls today to empower them for a better tomorrow.”

@bellefleurhaus

Tennille Dowers Tennille Dowers is a visual artist, arts programming coordinator and communications specialist. Her painting and drawings primarily explore perceptions and prevailing stigmas around the black female body.

Racial diversity and the free exchange of thoughts and ideas without the pressure of assimilation or threat of exclusion will be the influence behind Tennille Dowers' contribution to Women Who Paint. Bright pops of colour and colliding thought and speech bubbles in her piece symbolize the exchange of ideas and sharing of experience that take place when intersectional feminism is put into practice.

“Young women collaborating to apologetically occupy wall space and fill it with art directly related to intersectional feminist experiences is profound departure from divisive or homogenizing ideas of a collective womanhood. Intersectional feminism to me means actively listening, acknowledging and sharing among women while recognizing our differences and similarities as beneficial. This collective piece is also important because the women are using materials and an artistic style associated with resistance and often, masculinity.”

@ThePaintedLime