Behind every delicately detailed piece in the Blueprint for a Collective Home exhibit was an Asian artist’s story of finding their place in Canada.  But it is not only the individual artists that made the exhibit feel like a home away from home. Beside every piece was another art installation that spoke the same language. They connected with the next like an extended hand. Together, the artworks united into a web of dialogue that explores the Asian diaspora in Canada.  Emerald Repard-Denniston is one of the co-founders of Shoes Off Collective (SOC), the organization behind the exhibit. For the artist, her story looked like video documentation of her and her…

Cody Erasmus remembers feeling neglected by a healthcare practitioner when he opened up about concerns over his mental health. As an Indigenous man raised with notions of toxic masculinity and ego over feelings, opening up was already difficult.  He had been dealing with seven months of chronic insomnia. He was struggling with healing from substance abuse while balancing life as a single father. Having a practitioner judge his needs and define his situation within a short business-like interaction denied him the care he needed.  “I felt misjudged and misunderstood,” says Erasmus. Erasmus’ experience is echoed by many people in Canada who were failed by the healthcare system. One of the…

On Feb. 15, 1965, the current Canadian flag designed by George Stanley was officially raised for the world to see.       To this day, the flag sports a large red maple leaf centred on a white background with two red vertical ‘seas’ on either side. These ‘seas’ resemble the motto “Canada, from sea to sea,” to mark the country’s east and west coastlines.  According to the government of Canada website, the use of red and white symbolizes the bridging of English and French history. As for the famous maple leaf, it has historically been a cultural icon and one of Canada’s largest natural resources.  But this design didn’t come without…

The day before the first COVID-19 lockdown, I remember being blissfully unaware at a small concert in Toronto by R&B artist Gallant. I was singing my heart out while trying to keep that nagging voice in the back of my head from bothering me about my exams the next day. By the following morning, the first lockdown was announced. It was thought to last only two weeks, but since then it has proven to be much longer. At first, I struggled coping with a sense of loss for my daily life as a young person in their early 20s. Often, this is a very pressuring stage of life. I felt…

Nostalgia is a universal experience that happens to everyone throughout various points in their lives. Generally, nostalgia is a sentimental reflection of the past or a yearning for a previous time in someone’s life that holds meaningful memories. In a medical newsletter, Dr. Cahut writes that memory is inaccurate. Our memory can only hold generalized reconstructions of the past that we have fixated on. With nostalgia, we tend to keep only the good parts that often colour the past with a rosy hue despite negative experiences.   Brooke Lydbrooke is a retired teacher, writer and activist. When reflecting on her youth, Lydbrooke fondly remembers a time of great change and experimentation.…

Tina Giang reminisces about 2009, when she was still a child in her pyjamas exploring her imagination through Microsoft Paint, Neopets and updating her latest YouTube profile design. There was no pressure to conform to a number of likes or the fleeting eyes of a short attention span.  Giang, now an OCAD University student in illustration, said her experiences were positive on these art platforms. “Everything felt simpler, so there was less of a feeling that I had to make posts or look or act a certain way.” Mary Tran, a digital artist, was a teenager when she was active on Tumblr and was exposed to all forms of art…

In the past decade, the media has not been easy on popular influencers and celebrities. Old mistakes or tweets that would have gone unnoticed 10 years ago are now resurfacing as evidence to ‘cancel’ people from social media or their careers. Critics of cancel culture denote these call outs to mob mentality, evoked by the “overly sensitive” Generation Z and millennials. In terms of politics, some critics address cancel culture as a censorship tactic to silence political enemies rather than an approach for healthy debate. As part of the older Generation Z population, Ciarra Ramsaywack does not think current youth are to blame for being overly sensitive. She says that…

Lockdown restrictions are easing, more Canadians are becoming fully vaccinated, non-essential services are reopening and gradually, people are meeting each other in person after being isolated since March 2020. For the first time in a while, lockdown measures are not being extended by another two weeks. There is finally a sense of hope.  Recent University of Toronto graduate Nievana Judisthir is excited to start her life again and is already making plans to transition into post-pandemic life. Her main goals are to attend Centennial College’s human resources program and to travel to the United States. “I’m excited to get my life back on track. I want to meet new people…