May 17, 2025 - Gossip & the whisper network
Panel with Sanaa Humayun, Kiona Callihoo Ligtvoet & Julia Rose Sutherland
Date: May 17
Time: 2-3:30 pm
Language: English
Places available: 30
A roundtable discussion on gossip as a form of care in practice, led by Sanaa Humayun with Kiona Callihoo Ligtvoet and Julia Rose Sutherland. Gossip gets turned over as a concept, as a form of harm and divisiveness, and then reclaimed as a form of care. Gossip as an idea isn't inherently good or bad - It's a tool. This conversation looks at what it means to use gossip as a tool for community building, for building relationships that are rooted ultimately in the desire to see each other flourish, to play, and to keep each other safe. This conversation will take place with two other artists who think about gossip in their practices, and what it means to use this tool in a way that works against systemic hierarchies - the successes and the difficulties in attempting to build a better framework around information sharing and secret keeping.
Sanaa Humayun (she/her) is an artist, writer, and curator who thinks about non-narrative storytelling, 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 care and reciprocity. She is passionate about fostering community through 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.
Kiona Callihoo Ligtvoet (she/her) is a multidisciplinary artist practicing in amiskwaciwâskahikan on Treaty 6 Territory. She grew up West of the city near the hamlet of Calahoo where she lived with her relatives on scrip land. Her family lines are Cree and Métis descending from Michel First Nation, as well as Dutch and mixed European. Kiona works in painting, printmaking, drawing and installation, recollecting personal stories of grief and tenderness. Her practice uses a non-linear telling of her memories through narrative work as a form of diaristic archiving. It draws from feelings of loss and enfranchisement, but also from deep belly laughter, mundane gestures, and a gentle fondness for where the histories between herself and her family overlap and disperse.
Julia Rose Sutherland (she/they) is a storyteller, interdisciplinary artist, and assistant professor at OCAD University in Toronto, Canada. She is a half-settler and half-Indigenous and is a citizen of the Mi’kmaq (Metepenagiag Nation). Sutherland earned their MFA in studio arts (Interdisciplinary) from the University at Buffalo (2019) and a BFA (craft and new media) from Alberta College of Art + Design (2013). With a foundation in craft, new media, and sculpture, Sutherland's work spans diverse media and thematic concerns, exploring identity, cultural memory, and the politics of representation.