REVIVE

“REVIVE is a group exhibition featuring the work of seven local and international artists and designers, exploring endangered creative practices and materials as vital expressions of storytelling and identity. 

Featuring Judy Anderson, Delali Cofie, Justine Gustafson, Ji Hee Kim, Mari Koppanen, Roda Medhat and Jessie Sohpaul, this multidisciplinary exhibition includes a broad range of works in sculpture, installation, photography, functional objects and textiles that explore the intersections of tradition and innovation. 

As we face rapid technological advancement and globalization, many artistic practices and materials are at risk of extinction. This exhibition explores the significance of these endangered creative practices and materials, emphasizing the importance of preserving cultural identities and histories embedded within them. REVIVE addresses interconnected themes such as cultural conservation, sustainability, the impact of colonization and the fusing of traditional techniques with modern methods, advocating for a future where these practices and materials continue to thrive and inspire.”

DesignTO is a non-profit arts organization celebrating 15 years of designing a sustainable, just, and joyful future. From January 24 to February 2, 2025, the DesignTO Festival features 100+ free events across Toronto, showcasing hundreds of artists and designers. Known as Canada’s largest annual design festival, DesignTO has welcomed over 1 million attendees, reached 2.6 billion people through media, supported 6,500+ artists and generated $120 million in tourism impact. The organization seeks to foster belonging and spark conversations about design’s role in shaping a better world.

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Judy Anderson is nêhiyaw from Gordon First Nation, Saskatchewan. Anderson’s practice includes beadwork, installation, painting, three-dimensional pieces and collaborative projects. Her work focuses on spirituality, nêhiyaw intellectualization of the world, relationality, graffiti, colonialism and decolonization. She is a Canadian Indigenous Studio Art Professor in the Department of Art and Art History at the University of Calgary. 

“This is the second piece in a series where I honour my son, Cruz, in his journey as a graffiti artist/writer and as he transitioned into manhood by beading his burners on moose hide. The first piece in this collaboration, ‘Exploit Robe (Toying Around)’, acknowledges his inexperience as a writer while honouring the beginning of his journey as an artist. The second piece, ‘Exploit Robe (Going Pro)’, highlights the natural progression of Cruz’s writing practice and my growing proficiency as a beader. At the same time, it acknowledges the history of Plains Indigenous men’s exploit robes. While Cruz no longer writes, he is now an atelier painter, this series will naturally shift to honour his exploits in painting.”

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Delali Cofie is a Ghanaian-Nigerian photographer and visual artist currently living in Toronto. He is a recent graduate of and a medal winner for photography from OCAD University, and he has exhibited in galleries across Ontario, namely Gallery 44 and Gallery 101. Through storytelling, he engages in multiple genres of photography, such as fine art, documentary and fashion. His work presents subtle beauty while exploring family, self-formation and becoming themes. Frequently creating work between his native city, Accra, and his current city, Toronto, he tells a tale of two cities linked by a diasporic thread.

“Inspired by traditional West African costuming, I represented this physical manifestation of self through masquerade garments. Combined with raffia, fabrics, bedsheets and various scraps from tailor shops in Accra, old family clothes and my father’s served as the base material. The textiles and fabrics represent the toll of our accumulated experiences over time. The photographs, created between Accra and Toronto, were captured in real and surreal spaces, depicting the existence of this “self” in both the real world and our individual imagined realities. They feature self-portraits of my father and myself and photographs with various subjects embodying the navigation of self.”

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Justine Gustafson is a registered member of Whitesand First Nation. She was born and raised in Thunder Bay, Ontario. She is Anishinaabe (Ojibwe), and her cultural background is the foundation of her creativity. She works as a full-time artist and is exceptionally skilled in bead artistry. She is well known for her work, which incorporates the floral traditions of her tribe. In addition to the beadwork, Gustafson enjoys the challenge of learning new art forms and has a passion for creating culturally inspired clothing/garments. She also receives numerous Ontario Arts Council grants that have supported various independent art projects. Her art keeps her connected to her family, culture and community. In recent years, Gustafson has faced some personal struggles and has found comfort and healing through creating. She is dedicated to her art practice and demonstrates a commitment to cultural preservation.

“I created seven tikinaagans with my father, Ryan Gustafson, to represent the seven grandfather teachings. My father did the woodwork, while I did the beadwork as it has traditionally been done.”

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Ji Hee Kim is a designer and educator based in Tkaronto, whose practice explores the intersections of craft, architecture, and textiles. She is particularly interested in how embodied and tactile knowledge can inspire new approaches to design processes and subsequently its pedagogy. Through her work, Kim seeks to bridge the gap between craft traditions and modern innovation, focusing on textiles as a metaphor for softness, flexibility, and human-scale detail to prompt another dimension to architectural inquiry.

“The Unfolded series is a contemporary interpretation of the traditional Korean textile art of Bojagi (보자기), historically used for wrapping, covering, and carrying everyday objects and gifts. Stitching together yet unfolding an abstracted architectural drawing of spaces significant to the artist’s cultural identity as a first-generation Korean-Canadian immigrant, this piece merges craftsmanship with cultural symbolism. These spaces are rendered in soft, translucent and layered textiles. This work explores themes of care, boundaries, and transformation, with fabric acting as both a protective layer and a medium storytelling.”

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Mari Koppanen is a Finnish designer working on her Ph.D. in Artistic Research at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts. With a background in textiles and furniture design, she operates at the intersection of design, material innovation and artistic inquiry. Through her work, she shapes the boundaries of contemporary design and material possibilities by exploring the potential of fungal materials and pigments. By merging traditional craft methods with a forward-thinking vision, Koppanen plays a crucial role in preserving and advancing the ancient knowledge of amadou. 

“The Byni bag draws inspiration from the historical uses of amadou. The first people to migrate to Northern Europe survived long journeys by carrying smouldering fire inside tinder mushrooms, which allowed them to move into increasingly northern regions. Later, amadou was transported in cylindrical metal cases and used as a firestarter. The combination of birch wood and amadou connects the bag to the symbolism of the forest, as birch forests are a characteristic habitat of tinder mushrooms. 

Sensorial Bowls highlight the haptic qualities of amadou and birch burls, encouraging us to delve into their natural irregularities through tactile exploration. The objects serve as an open invitation to bring fungi into our living spaces, shedding light on their vital but often overlooked role in our ecosystem. The analogy of burl and polypore mushrooms as opposite forces can be seen as a representation of the balance that exists in natural processes. One drives growth, expansion, and multiplication, while the other operates through decay, breakdown and recycling. When viewed in a broader ecological context, these seemingly contrasting forces are not opposing but complementary. 

In the small mountain village of Corund in Transylvania, a rare mushroom craft has been passed down through families. The residents use a leather-like material processed from tinder fungus to create handmade items. The amadou tradition is at risk of disappearing, and valuable expertise will be lost as these aging artisans pass away. The Hatmaker centres around the story of Mr. Imre, one of the oldest amadou craftsmen in the village, highlighting how the survival of the amadou craft tradition is contingent on a small group of individuals.”

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Roda Medhat is a Kurdish-born artist currently based in Toronto. Medhat’s work is textile as sculpture, exploring how traditional West Asian and Kurdish textiles can be translated into other materials. The research behind the work heavily relies on themes of cultural preservation, archiving and imagined spaces. Using 3D scanning, textbooks and archives, Medhat is piecing together a complete image of Kurdish textiles in history and as a modern craft. In 2023, he was selected as the 401 Richmond Career Launcher Prize recipient. In 2024, he received the CIBC C2 Art Prize.

“Marital Rug pays homage to the rich cultural tradition of marital rugs woven by women in anticipation of their weddings. In the context of traditional rugs, the green voids symbolize a state of mental blankness, a spiritual openness. At the centre of the rug, a classic garden motif unfolds, reminiscent of the lush and intricate patterns found in West Asian rugs. This garden motif, often associated with representations of the Garden of Eden, adds a layer of timeless symbolism to the artwork.”

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Jessie Sohpaul’s practice explores the complexities of identity and belonging, exploring what it means to be an “other” in the West. Drawing on his design background and identity as a first-generation Punjabi Canadian, he emphasizes context, history and the built environment in his work. Classism, migration and identity themes are central to his practice, examined through a context-driven lens. Working with traditional and digital media, Sohpaul captures the energy and resilience of his upbringing while honouring his Punjabi heritage.

“Archway Seating operates as an intervention, reclaiming forgotten narratives of the Punjabi diaspora in Vancouver by embedding them in the city’s landscape. The work reinterprets the archways of North India to create functional public seating. Turning the arch on its side transforms a cultural symbol into a contemporary urban object. Beyond its utility, it serves as a living archive, connecting heritage with public spaces, fostering awareness and ensuring the community’s stories remain visible, accessible and enduring for future generations.”

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