Hangama Amiri holds an MFA from Yale University where she graduated in 2020 from the Painting and Printmaking Department. She received her BFA from NSCAD University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and is a Canadian Fulbright and Post-Graduate Fellow at Yale University School of Art and Sciences (2015-2016). She is a Kaiserring Stapendiatin of 2023 by Monchehaus Museum in Goslar, Germany. She is also a finalist for the Sobey Art Award (2025). Her recent exhibitions include Parting at the Esker Foundation (2025), Calgary, Alberta; Toronto Biennial: Precarious Joy (2025), Toronto, ON, A Quiet Resistance (2023) at Monchehaus Museum, Goslar, Germany, A Homage to Home (2023) at The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, CT; Sharjah Biennial 15: Thinking Historically in the Present (2023), Sharjah, UAE; Reminiscences (2022) at Union Pacific in London; Henna Night/ Shabe Kheena (2022) at David B. Smith Gallery, Denver, CO; Mirrors and Faces (2021) at Cooper Cole Gallery, Toronto; Wandering Amidst the Colors (2021) at Albertz Benda, New York, NY; Spectators of a New Dawn (2021), Towards Gallery, Toronto; and Bazaar: A Recollection of Home (2020) at T293 Gallery, Rome, Italy.

Amiri works predominantly in textiles to examine notions of home, as well as how gender, social norms, and larger geopolitical conflict impact the daily lives of women, both in Afghanistan and in the diaspora. Continuing to use textiles as the medium, Amiri searches to define, explore, and question these spaces. The figurative tendency in her work is due to her interest in the power of representation, especially of those objects that are ordinary to our everyday life, such as a passport, a vase, or celebrity postcards.

Lorilee Wastasecoot is an Ininew iskwew (Cree woman) from Peguis First Nation and York Factory in northern Manitoba and grew up in Winnipeg. She lives and works on lək̓ʷəŋən territory in Victoria, BC. She is the Curator of Indigenous Art and Engagement at the University of Victoria Legacy Art Galleries, where she works with artists, communities, students, and collections to support Indigenous-led exhibitions, research, and programming.

Her curatorial practice is rooted in relationships, care, and reciprocity, with a focus on the historic and contemporary artistic practices of Indigenous women. Through exhibitions, publications, and community-engaged projects, she explores cultural continuity, Indigenous knowledge systems, and the stories carried through art and material culture. Her curatorial projects include We Carry Our Ancestors (2019), On Beaded Ground (2021), and Francis Dick: Walking Thru My Fires (2023).

Lorilee is particularly interested in the ways collections can support community knowledge, cultural resurgence, and the rematriation of Indigenous belongings. She serves on the University of Victoria’s Repatriation Advisory Committee and is President of the Open Space Arts Society Board. In 2024, she was selected for the Professional Alliance for Curators of Color (PACC) Mentorship Program through the Association of Art Museum Curators.

Outside of her curatorial work, Lorilee finds joy in spending time with family and friends, cooking and sharing meals, caring for animals, and being out on the land and water. She believes that some of the most meaningful learning and relationship-building happens around kitchen tables, in community gatherings, and through everyday acts of care. These values guide both her life and her work.

Steven Hubert is an artist and educator whose practice spans painting, sculpture, video, and theater. He has exhibited in Canada, the US, and Mexico, with work appearing in such publications as SETUP, Young Adult, Fillip, Decoy, and Akimbo. Interests include history, current events, pop culture, the internet, music, design, and architecture. Some themes: the precarity of individual expression, theatre of the studio, stories that collapse under their own regurgitative weight, hope for today, and improvisation within limits. He teaches painting, sculpture and media at Langara College.