Monica Mak (she/her)
Documentary filmmakerÂ
In her artistic practice, Monica is drawn to diverse issues, including female empowerment, the immigrant experience, and sub-cultural practices. In 2010, Monica directed, produced, and narrated Tiara, her debut documentary on Asian beauty pageants in Canada. It premiered at the 2012 Diverse City Multicultural Film Festival in conjunction with Asian Heritage Month. She also produced and co-directed Saving Our Tongues (2017), a documentary short about Toronto-based speakers of endangered languages, as well as a trilogy of documentary shorts for The Hair Scarf Project (2020), a mixed media installation about Muslim-Canadian women who chose to wear the hijab.
Shiva Shoeybi (she/her)
Mixed Media Artist
In her body of work, Shiva views the world through a multidisciplinary lens. She is fascinated with themes that revolve around cultural identity and cross-culturalism. She has experimented with an array of media including performance, installation, photography, film, and textile. In 2018, she was one of four Iranian-Canadian artists selected for a group show entitled Four Women Four Voices at Gallery 50, in Toronto, Canada.