Artists & Performers - Vancouver Outsider Arts Festival

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Visual Artists

Alex Reeder

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Alex Reeder

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Alex Reeder is a primarily self-taught queer ceramicist and illustrator living and working on the unceded traditional territories of the Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), Səl̓ílwətaʔ/ Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh), and xwməθkwəy̓ əm (Musqueam) Nations, commonly known as Vancouver, BC. Although he’s worked as a freelance illustrator and comic artist for years, he is a newcomer to the world of ceramic art and exhibitions. Alex discovered pottery in 2022 as a therapeutic medium to heal from a combination of personal trauma and creative burnout, and has since been developing methods to translate his comics and illustration into narrative ceramics. His life’s goal is to meaningfully contribute to the emerging genre of clay comic art within contemporary ceramics. Alex is active in ceramics communities in Canada, Germany, and Japan, having taught workshops and taken part in exhibitions in Vancouver, Berlin, and Otsu, Shiga prefecture. Alex’s ceramic comics blend ancient craft with colourful modern illustrative styles, exploring futuristic, ephemeral concepts through an old and physically tangible medium. The clay acts as a language for things he struggles to express in words; intertwining themes of queer identity, disability, existential ponderings, and the immortality of ceramic storytelling. He seeks spaces, communities, and art that embrace the outsider and celebrate the raw, authentic, and strange.

Phone:604 417 8038
Email:alexreederart[@]gmail.com

angel gunn

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angel gunn

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angel is a queer, trans multidisciplinary visual artist. Born and raised on Snaw-naw-as lands and waters (also known as “Nanoose Bay”), angel is currently living and practicing on the unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ(Tsleil-Waututh) Nations (also referred to as “Vancouver”). angel carries Irish & German heritage. Creating across a range of modalities including textile art, zines, soft sculptures, cyanotypes, digital collage, watercolour, and more, angel utilizes reclaimed and recycled materials to walk as gently as they can on this Earth. Their artistic practice often explores the intersections of grief and joy, community, presence, and struggle for liberation. Through slow, tactile practices like hand stitching, carving, drawing, painting, and weaving, angel centres labour, honours social histories, and deepens connection to the ecosystems that sustain us.

Badger

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Badger

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I make visual art from a place centred in my reality as a trauma survivor. These themes are not always explicit, at least for those who aren't sensitized, but my hope is to create resonance and validation for people walking around holding similar experiences and states inside themselves. There are many truths we cannot be upfront about, and which are often felt without words. For me, color is a powerful form of resistance and communication A bi+ white settler immigrant, I work in painting, drawing and miniature diorama and sculpture, as well as book arts. There is some dark humour in my work, and an interest in strange and unsettling juxtaposition. I also like to play with scale. The work is intuitive and exploratory and emerges from dialogue with my inner selves.

Big Zell

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Big Zell

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Zell “Big Zell” Leira is a transmasculine visual artist residing in the unceded and unsurrendered lands of the Halkomelem speaking people known as “New Westminster”. Their expressive and fantastical work explores the themes and emotional experience of plunging head first into a gender and sexuality based identity transformation. He does this by designing, drawing and painting characters that are a representation of his inner world. Zell’s goal is to challenge himself into making increasingly bigger, bolder, complex visual feasts that express the fullness of their identity in striking ways, as well as developing workshops that share their process of self expression with the broader community.

Chantelle Yeung

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Chantelle Yeung

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Chantelle Yeung is a Calligrapher and self-taught visual artist based in Vancouver. Her work grows from a long process of understanding the world — its challenges, its quiet beauty, and the connections between people, nature, and thought. Over time, these reflections have shaped a personal philosophy that guides her practice. Rather than searching for meaning through art, Chantelle uses art to express the ideas she has already discovered, offering them through a subtle and poetic visual language. Working with ink painting and sumi-e on Xuan paper, CY blends traditional Chinese brush calligraphy and painting with elements of Western contemporary art. This fusion creates a minimal yet expressive style that feels rooted in tradition while open to new interpretations. Chantelle has participated in group exhibitions at local art festivals and continues to grow her presence within the Vancouver arts community. Chantelle is currently developing a series of monochrome minimalist sumi-e works, exploring balance, clarity, and the quiet soul within each brushstroke. Keywords: meaning, philosophy, soul.

Dogpiled

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Dogpiled

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Sol Strandebo is an emerging textile sculptor born and based in “Metro Vancouver” B.C. Sol has featured his work in group exhibitions such as Value Me at Take Your Time Front and Bully’s Vs Art at Bully’s Studios, and most recently, in the 2nd Life exhibition in September 2026. He participates in art markets and runs workshops throughout “Metro Vancouver”. Inspired by the transitional object: a comfort object that helps children first gain a distinct sense of self, his works are stuffed, soft, and sensory. He is curious about the role that comfort objects, mainly stuffed animals, play in our lives, and the power these small beings hold, especially through a queer and neurodivergent lens. Sol’s work explores floaty feelings that exist outside the realm of verbal communication through dreamlike, friendly animal forms. Sol is expected to graduate with his Bachelor’s of Fine Arts from Emily Carr University of Art and Design late 2026.

Gabrielle Parent

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Gabrielle Parent

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Gabrielle Parent (she/they) is an interdisciplinary visual artist and writer based on the unceded and traditional territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations, colonially known as Vancouver, BC. As a late-diagnosed AuDHD person, Gabrielle has long struggled with imposter syndrome, burnout, masking, and internalized ableism. When she began to understand her identity as a queer and disabled person, Gabrielle experienced complex waves of grief and joy. Coming to terms with existing in a world not built for people like her is an ongoing process, but it’s one that she endeavours to do through art. With collaging and mixed media techniques, a cornerstone of Gabrielle's practice is using recycled, discarded, and second-hand materials. She is very passionate about the value that can be found in these materials, taking “scraps” or “trash” and turning it into something new. Cut-up images from thrifted magazines and recycled pamphlets, dried flowers and leaves, the plastic wrapping that covered her canvas–she has used it all. Gabrielle is a firm believer in the power of artwork and storytelling as a means of uniting a community, sharing perspectives, and enacting social change—efforts she hopes to contribute to with her work.

Hong Yu Casey Chan

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Hong Yu Casey Chan

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Hong Yu Casey Chan is a Deaf visual artist and photographer based in Vancouver, originally from Hong Kong. Working primarily in digital photography, he explores culture, memory, migration, ritual, and belonging through documentary and fine art approaches. With over nine years of photography experience, Chan has worked across commercial, event, and documentary photography before developing a more personal artistic practice. His work is influenced by cultural traditions, community spaces, human gestures, and the experience of moving between places and languages. As a Deaf newcomer artist, Chan uses photography as a way of listening visually and communicating across cultural and linguistic differences. His work has been exhibited in Hong Kong, Tokyo, India, Toronto, and Vancouver. Recent recognitions include the Toronto Arts Awards Newcomer Artist Award, Official Selection in the International Photography Awards, and Second Place in the Global Ability Photography Challenge.

Isabella Medalle

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Isabella Medalle

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Isabella Medalle is a Filipino-Australian-Canadian Autistic and ADHD visual artist and writer who weaves her wide-breadth of life experience, ethnoautobiography and the spiritual into her abstract acrylic paintings and digital art. Inspired by her Lola (Grandmother), a Manghihilot healer and by the Babaylan - pre-colonial shamans in the Philippines, her work comes to her in a trance-like state that brings the unseen, the subconscious and the spirit into material reality. Isabella’s work brings viewers on a journey through the veil into flowing lines, patterns, spirals and abstract shapes that invite viewers to explore what makes us human beyond the narratives we hide behind and to experience the inherent truths hidden deep within our souls.

J Peachy

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J Peachy

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J Peachy is a West Coast based multi-disciplinary outsider artist with ancestral roots from Coastal Northern Philippines who has recently been focused on land-based creative programming. JP sees the utility of creative engagement for self preservation as well as to amplify ecological and social based initiatives. Peachy has also been a resident artist within the school system including Richmond Senior High, Cook Elementary, and Ferris Elementary in Richmond School District #38. JP leads various types of creative workshops in educational and community institutions. 'Birds Outside' is the installation theme Peachy brings to this year’s festival and invites folks to relate to the lifecycle transformation and international migration of birds. Peachy’s creative multidisciplinary expressions mimic the diverse narratives that Birds can symbolize. Birds could mean freedom, solitude, nurturing, creative scavenging, and the fierceness of predation in their many daily activities. Birds can inspire survival and existence amongst the insanity of mass modern human monoculture consumption. Think outside to survive outside.

Jacqueline Primeau

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Jacqueline Primeau

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Jacqueline Primeau is a visual artist and poet who lives in Vancouver, BC. She paints landscapes and mixed-media paintings in an expressionistic, abstract/semi-abstract style. Her painting process is playful and exploratory. In her acrylic paintings she is more interested in capturing the feelings the landscapes evoke in her rather than realistic depiction. They are often painted rather quickly. The starting point might be nature, her travels, snapshots or memories. Her calming landscapes bridge the gap between reality and creative intuition. Once she begins the painting she says “I allow the painting to take its own path on the canvas. I am guided by pure imagination rather than a desire to copy a scene. I am trying to paint the mood and atmosphere, the emotional echo of being there.” Her mixed-media paintings, on the other hand, often take many hours/days of planning. In these, inspired by nature and sometimes architecture, she is exploring such themes as deconstructed space and fragmented memory. Jacqueline uses intricate collage techniques which involve layering cut-up and altered photos, photocopies, collage materials, acrylic paint and water media. The atmospheric artworks which emerge are haunting and ambiguous with a dream-like quality. Jacqueline identifies as Metis and has a BFA from Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec.

Kevin Wong

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Kevin Wong

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Kevin Wong is a Hong Kong born professional illustrator & multidisciplinary artist living in Vancouver BC, Canada. His current work predominately involves watercolour and ink Illustration and Ceramics. As a Cantonese immigrant living in Canada, much of his subjects are inspired by food culture, nostalgia and an unabashed love of trashy animals. In 2025, he created his moniker Gilded Garbage Fine Art, and has participated in a wide variety of shows, including the Langley Arts Council, One More Life Gallery, and the Connection Salon. His work is a celebration of how people of diverse backgrounds can bond over their mutual love of food. He hopes to invoke a sense of whimsy and joy in his fantastical art and use it as a bridge for connection and empathy to different cultures and perspectives.

Kim Brake

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Kim Brake

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After a second re-occurrence of breast cancer, numerous surgeries and years of cumulative stress and trauma, Kim suffered a major depressive episode in 2021. Rather than “cope”, Kim dove deeply into a life changing healing journey. She discovered the power of time in nature and of self-expression through the arts. Painting, poetry and photography gave voice to her inner authentic self as she began healing deeply stored trauma. Kim is a self-taught prolific artist whose creative work heavily revolves around themes of self-love, sensuality, nature and the reclamation of divine feminine energy. Her work has been featured at VOAF 2024, Vancouver Under 100 Art show, Surrey Muse Arts Society, Place Des Arts Coquitlam and the Crescent Beach Pop Up Art Gallery. As a multi-disciplinary artist, Kim has also published her own book of haiku (This Journey of Mine) and has collaborated with other writers and artists to curate and create five anthologies. Kim’s journey is no longer one of healing but rather a celebration of living! Kim enjoys attending Queer events and deeply values time in nature. She currently resides in Richmond, BC with her two young adult children.

Lau A.

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Lau A.

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Lau A. (she/her) is a Coquitlam-based visual artist and storyteller from Mexico. Starting as a self-taught painter, she trained in a private studio in Mexico City led by Minerva F. before earning a diploma in Classical Animation from Vancouver Film School (VFS). Her practice spans immersive, nature-inspired landscapes and character-driven illustrations, often blending fine art realism with playful narrative design. Deeply connected to the environment and adaptability, Lau explores themes of belonging and personal transformation. Her work ranges from serene landscapes to lighthearted series that use humor to reflect on the newcomer experience. Whether painting quiet natural scenes or whimsical journeys, she creates a visual bridge between transition and discovery. Having exhibited at Antigua in Mexico City, taught art to children, and participated in group art shows in British Columbia, Lau wishes to use her art to build community. Today, she aims to reconnect with others by sharing her love for art, aspiring to teach and guide children again, helping them discover joy and creative confidence in life’s transitional moments.

Lora Szostak

Lora was born in Vancouver B.C. She has had a passion for drawing and painting at a very young age. She started out doing pencil and pen portraits of people and then over the years slowly dived more into painting. She works in acrylics and also produced mixed media pieces involving other art mediums. Her art focuses on old Vancouver buildings, mainly focusing on historical Vancouver architecture which has long been demolished over the decades. She also does abstract art, people portraits, landscapes and nature paintings. She has sold her work in the United Kingdom and Canada.

LUGOCID

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LUGOCID

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Lucas Gómez Cid (Lugocid) is a Chilean interdisciplinary sculptor based in Vancouver, Canada. Born in 2001, He began his creative path through early animation and design projects with cultural institutions like the Chilemonos Foundation. He earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Visual Arts from Emily Carr University of Art + Design (2021–2025) while pursuing specialized training at Vancouver FX in ZBrush 3D sculpting and practical prosthetics. Lugocid’s work explores the fine line between the adorable and the unsettling. Drawing influence from pop culture, art toys, and contemporary sculpture, he combines resins, fabrics, and 3D-printed elements to craft immersive, tactile worlds. At the heart of his practice is "happy art"—a philosophy that embraces joy, humor, and wonder as an act of resistance. Recognized with three consecutive Brissenden Scholarships (2022–2024), Among many he has showcased his work in exhibitions like WE ARE at Gallery 626 and METAL IS METAL at The Glass Corner. His multidisciplinary experience ranges from custom prop design to performing in Tadasu Takamine’s Sculptural Rebirth at the Vancouver Art Gallery. Today, Lugocid continues to expand his playful universe, creating vibrant hybrid sculptures that invite viewers to reconnect with curiosity and imagination.

Email:lucas[@]lugocid.com

Matia

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Matia

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Matia is an abstract figurative artist born and raised in Iran. Initially drawn to the mysteries of the universe, she pursued physics in university but later found a deep connection to art. She dedicated five years to studying art, including painting and art history. Matia primarily works with acrylics but explores various mediums. Her art features bold brushstrokes and delicate figures, creating a unique and captivating style. Since 2010, she has exhibited her artwork in the Middle East and Canada. Matia is currently based in Richmond, where she not only creates art but also inspires aspiring artists as a teacher, leaving a lasting impact on the local art community.

Miokinon

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Miokinon

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I’m Mariel or Miokinon when I'm doing my art. I grew up in a family full of science fiction and horror screenwriters and authors, so the weird and the wonderful has always been a part of my life. My parents moved us all up to Vancouver in 1998 from Los Angeles to work for Disney, and I spent most of my childhood around actors, writers, set designers, directors and other incredibly imaginative and thoughtful people. Being in that environment, it was hard not to be inspired. I've spent my life drawing, singing, dancing, sculpting - and later - performing drag and burlesque to professionally explore my love of playing dress-up. My art is a kaleidoscope of color, fueled by my love of maximalism, whimsy, queerness and the need to paint extremely loud for a city full of grey. I would describe my art the same way I hope people would describe me: silly, complex, strange, bold, and unique.

Peter Ricq

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Peter Ricq

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Peter Ricq is a Canadian multidisciplinary artist whose career spans painting, filmmaking, animation, music, and design. Over the past two decades, he has co-created an internationally broadcast animated series, directed the award-winning feature film Dead Shack, performed globally as one half of the Juno-nominated electronic duo HUMANS, and published graphic novels and children's books. This diverse creative background informs his painting practice, where cinematic storytelling, symbolic world-building, and meticulous visual design converge on works questioning history, power, and inherited narratives.

Robby Garcia

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Robby Garcia

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My name is Robby Garcia (They/Them), I am from New Westminster BC, Canada, and I currently reside in Vancouver, BC. I studied Classical Music at Douglas College and Capilano University after skipping most of my classes when I was in high school in favour of spending my day in the Art classroom where I spent the majority of my time painting. I began drawing and singing to myself as a child; I don't remember a time in my life when art was not present. When I was a teenager I was asked to paint my first murals in Daycare facilities, nail and wax salons, as well as a permanent installment in my high school. I have performed internationally as a classically trained tenor, and I am currently working on an Opera. When not working on music, I paint figures in liminal spaces using classical methods such as egg tempera, and oil painting.

Sandi Bassett

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Sandi Bassett

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Sandi Bassett is a Canadian visual artist and educator based in Vancouver. Her mixed media and painted works explore resilience, memory, and transformation through layered textures and intuitive form. Drawing from years of cross-cultural teaching and community art practice, Bassett’s work reflects a deep connection to place, spirit, and the enduring muse of creativity.

Sarah del Valle

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Sarah del Valle

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Sarah del Valle is an multidisciplinary artist, with a Bachelor’s of Media Arts in 2D-Experimental Animation from Emily Carr University of Art + Design and the recipient of the The President’s Media Awards for Excellence – Best in 2D or Experimental Animation for her film I’m Having Trouble Processing This. She grew up in Calgary, Alberta and is currently located on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations, known as Vancouver, B.C. She intends to further build upon her animation and filmmaking portfolio as well as develop her voice as a fine artist through local exhibitions.

Sarah McNeil

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Sarah McNeil

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Sarah McNeil is a multidisciplinary artist who lives and works in Vancouver, BC. Her primary practice is relief printmaking rooted in high-contrast imagery. Through her work, she continues to refine a visual language shaped by the natural world, symmetry and themes of longing and memory. She has participated in multiple group exhibitions around Vancouver, and continues to develop new hand-carved works while experimenting with printing on textiles to expand her practice beyond paper. Headshot photo credit: Megan Posnikoff ©2026

Sarb Glaze

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Sarb Glaze

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Sarb Glaze is a self-taught abstract expressionist artist, portrait photographer, and mother of two, born and raised in East Vancouver. As the daughter of Indian immigrants, she grew up in a vibrant multicultural community that continues to shape her perspective. Her creative career began in 2009 as a portrait photographer, where years of working with children nurtured a deep appreciation for gesture, authenticity, and human connection. After becoming a mother, Sarb turned to painting with acrylics in 2020 as another way to express emotion and reconnect with a sense of freedom and play, inspired by what she observed in her children. What began as exploration quickly evolved into a passionate practice that bridges her love of colour, movement, and nature. Her intuitive paintings reflect both the calm and energy of the natural world while drawing on the honesty and spontaneity she admires in children, the same sense of wonder she strives to keep alive in her art. Sarb's painting The Trails was selected by the Arts to Hearts Project as one of the Top 100 Emerging Artworks of 2025 and was published in the book of the same title. Her work has been exhibited throughout British Columbia, including at the Kelowna Art Gallery, the Federation Gallery with the Federation of Canadian Artists, Cityscape Gallery, The Gallery at Queen's Park, the Langley Arts Council, Outsiders and Others Gallery, and VS Creative Lab. Sarb is proud to contribute her work to fundraising initiatives that support the arts and charitable causes, including the North Van Arts Anonymous Art Show and Vancouver's Outsiders and Others Gallery Postcard Art Exhibit.

Sofia Hernandez

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Sofia Hernandez

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Sofia Hernandez is a Mexican artist from Durango, Mexico. Her artistic journey began with a diploma in art history completed in 2023 and was further enriched through visual arts studies at UJED university in 2022. A formative part of her development came from three years of oil painting instruction under renowned Mexican artist and teacher Carlos Cárdenas, whose mentorship shaped her technical foundation and artistic voice. Working across painting, printmaking, ceramics, and mixed media, Sofia explores themes of identity, memory, culture, and human emotion. Drawing inspiration from her Mexican heritage while embracing new perspectives gained in Canada, her work seeks to create meaningful connections through storytelling and craftsmanship. Throughout her career, Sofia has participated in solo and group exhibitions as well as art competitions, continually expanding her creative practice. Committed to lifelong learning, she continues to refine her techniques, experiment with new mediums, and develop a body of work that reflects both her cultural roots and her evolving artistic journey.

Sophia Funk

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Sophia Funk

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Sophia Funk (she/her) is a self-taught artist and illustrator, living on the unceded traditional territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish Nation), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations, now known as Vancouver. Beginning her journey as an artist in her hometown on Northern Vancouver Island, on the unceded Traditional Territory of the K'ómoks First Nation, Sophia turned to drawing and painting as a way to find comfort in confusing emotions and loneliness. Sophia’s art is a response to her highly emotional and sensitive nature, delving into themes of anxiety, longing, paranoia, and hope. Inspired by alternative comics, the superflat movement, and cubism, Sophia’s work often depicts moody feminine figures accompanied by dreamlike animals or creatures - telling a story that aims to offer a simultaneous sense of comfort and unease for the viewer. Working with ink and paper, or a mix of oil and acrylic on canvas, her work is either black and white or within a muted, pastel palette. Sophia is an emerging artist, having published work in Discorder Magazine and other local publications. She hopes you join her on her journey into the depths.

Thom Lu

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Thom Lu

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Thom Lu (Lu Pei Che) is a Taiwanese Canadian multidisciplinary creator, animator, filmmaker, builder, novelist, and storyteller based in Vancouver. His work explores emotional expression, mental health, the whimsical absurdities of modern life, and the everyday search for meaning through drawing, painting, animation, film, writing, and interactive media. Blending surreal imagery with personal reflection, he transforms ordinary emotions into dreamlike visual narratives that invite curiosity, humor, and introspection. Rather than following a single creative path, Thom has spent his life embracing many. Since graduating from Emily Carr University of Art + Design, he has worked in motion graphics, live-action acting, production assistance, scriptwriting, novel writing, independent filmmaking, professional animation, and software development while continually pursuing his own artistic practice and entrepreneurial ventures. Each chapter has deepened his understanding of the human experience, especially how love and fear shape our choices, relationships, and identities. Whether creating a painting, writing a novel, directing a film, building an app, or designing an animated world, Thom sees every medium as another language for exploring what it means to become a kinder, more curious, and more compassionate person. Through honesty, imagination, and a touch of playfulness, he hopes his work encourages others to reflect inwardly, rediscover their sense of wonder, and reconnect with themselves and one another.

Wenqing Tan

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Wenqing Tan

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Wenqing Tan (b. 1999, Anhui, China) is a Vancouver-based artist and a fourth-year BFA student in Visual Arts (Painting) at Emily Carr University of Art + Design. Working primarily with oil painting and mixed media, her practice investigates subjectivity through observation, memory, and material processes. Through fragmented spaces, wandering figures, and layered surfaces, she explores misrecognition, linguistic displacement, and the instability of the self through experiences of living between languages and cultures. She has participated in exhibitions across Metro Vancouver, a residency in British Columbia, and exhibitions at Emily Carr University of Art + Design.

Performing Artists

Co-Creating Love

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Co-Creating Love

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Welcome to Co-Creating Love, a magical and transformative sound bath experience designed to promote healing, relaxation, and inner peace. Led by our skilled sound healers, Corus & Rhythm, our sound bath incorporates a variety of instruments carefully chosen to create a harmonious and immersive experience. Our sound bath features a beautiful blend of soundscapes, including the ethereal sounds of the Native American flute, the soothing vibrations of singing bowls, the enchanting tones of the handpan, and the earthy and angelic vocals of our sound healers. We also incorporate the healing power of nature sounds, adding an extra layer of depth and immersion to the experience. At Co-Creating Love, we believe in the power of sound and vibration to promote healing and transformation. Our sound healers are passionate about helping people connect with their inner selves, releasing stress and tension, and unlocking their body's natural healing potential through the power of sound. We invite you to join us on a journey into the heart of sound and vibration, and discover the transformative power of Co-Creating Love. Whether you are new to sound healing or an experienced practitioner, our sound bath offers a unique and powerful experience that will leave you feeling rejuvenated, refreshed, and connected.

Kagan Goh

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Kagan Goh

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Kagan Goh is a Vancouver-based Chinese Canadian multidisciplinary artist working across memoir, poetry, playwriting, filmmaking, and mental health advocacy. Diagnosed with bipolar disorder at twenty-three, he turned to writing as a path toward healing, evolving self-therapy into a distinctive artistic voice that has made him a fixture of Vancouver’s spoken-word scene, where peers call him “the bipolar poet laureate.” Son of Singapore literary pioneer Goh Poh Seng, Kagan channels an inherited storytelling legacy through his lived experience, exploring mental illness, recovery, and self-acceptance while advocating for validating all emotional experiences as part of the healing journey. In 2026, his one-act monologue play Professional M.D. is being showcased at the Vancouver Outsider Arts Festival. Blending spoken word, stand-up comedy, and dramatic monologue, the piece draws on his diagnosis and treatment to explore identity, stigma, and survival with dark humor and honesty. His work has appeared at the Vancouver International Storytelling Festival, Word on the Street, CBC, and Co-op Radio. A graduate of the Humber School for Writing with a certificate from Simon Fraser University’s The Writer’s Studio, he served as writer-in-residence at Vancouver’s Historic Joy Kogawa House. His books include Who Let in the Sky? (Select Books, 2012) and Surviving Samsara (Caitlin Press, 2021), shortlisted for the 2022 Singapore Literature Prize. An award-winning filmmaker, his films include Mind Fuck (1996), Stolen Memories (2012), Breaking the Silence (2015), The Day My Cat Saved My Life (2021), and Common Law (2024). He is adapting Surviving Samsara into the TV series A Delicate Imbalance.

Kimberly Ihekwoaba

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Kimberly Ihekwoaba

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Kimberly is a Nigerian-Canadian Multimedia Storyteller. Writing is a place that permits her to be soft, bold, and fearless. She brings honest and heartfelt emotions through the lens of nuanced perspectives. Her work has been showcased in theatre productions, prose, film, interviews, skits, and spoken word poetry. She has also shared her work as part of an exhibition for Butterflies in Spirit. Kimberly published the journal, “180 Days of Inspiration, Affirmation, and Gratitude”. This journal offers daily prompts that help build confidence, gratitude, and compassion.

Lemon Ham Productions

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Lemon Ham Productions

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Lemon Ham Productions (LHP) is composed of Chap L Moan, T. Winky Dink, and Mx. Shoop Dumplin', three neurodivergent queer artists. Each performer brings in their own flavour of humour, charm, craft, live singing or lip synching, and silliness. All three performers have been doing drag for less than two years, but have already graced the stages of The Rio Theater, Waldorf, Enabling Arts, and more! This theatrical trio runs a monthly drag event called "Fetch-A-Sketch" at Enabling Arts where audience members come out to draw drag performers in full costume and character. In April LHP did their first satirical mayoral campaign event at the Waldorf Hotel, and are now bringing this NEW AND IMPROVED act to the Roundhouse for the Vancouver Outsider Arts Festival! If you're interested in drag, political satire, or performance art, you are in for a very delicious treat! Because we are here to Make Everything Gay Again! MEGA >MAGA

Mars

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Mars

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I’m Mars, a 20y/o guitarist/singer from HK, and I’ve been making music and performing for around a year now. I wouldn’t necessarily know how to like label myself in terms of genre but I guess it would be emo/midwest emo-adjacent music since my main inspirations are Billy Cobb & Tiger Really.

Stephen Lytton

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Stephen Lytton

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Stephen is a member of the Nicomen Indian Band within the Nlaka’pamux First Nation. He lives with a disability (cerebral palsy), and is a survivor of St. George’s Indian Residential School. An accomplished actor, writer and presenter, Stephen has presented in western and eastern Canada to groups regarding his personal experiences in residential school as an Aboriginal person living with a disability. He has lived in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside since 1992. He loves the character, the heart, and the courage of this community where he’s learned about the human spirit and its will to survive in spite of all the challenges it encounters. He enjoys people he meets, poetry, creative writing, acting (The Downtown Eastside Community Play, Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, Storyweaving). He serves as President of BC Aboriginal Network on Disability Society (BCANDS). Stephen is the recipient of the 2016 Governor General’s Caring Canadian Award in recognition of his significant, sustained, unpaid contribution to his community. He believes that the arts are one of many ways to build bridges culturally and socially. Stephen was a principal actor in the project, Weaving Reconciliation: Our Way. According to Renae Morriseau, Director/Lead Writer of the project, “Weaving Reconciliation: Our Way is about our hopes for a good future, guided by principles of our cultural past.”

Sunny Daydream

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Sunny Daydream

They/them/theirs, Any Pronouns

Born in Nanjing, raised in Langley, BC, alt-pop misfit Sunny Daydream burst onto Vancouver’s scene at 17 years old by working for after hours, modelling for local designers and covering events for webzines. The nonbinary artist crafts heartfelt music made for biking down the Seawall and crying on the Skytrain. Sunny calls on the power of nature and the Pacific Ocean in their lyrics and visuals, and uses music, dance, film and more to spread their message of hope and belonging. Sunny is currently writing and recording new music from their bedroom in Surrey, BC. Headshot by Ashley Sandhu-Kim.

Art Groups

Alternative Creations Studio

Alternative Creations Studio

Alternative Creations Studio is a collective that connects and empowers artists with developmental disabilities to experiment and hone their skills while co-creating inclusive communities where everyone can flourish. We believe in the transformative power of art and are always seeking opportunities to collaborate with like-minded people by sharing studio and gallery space, hosting community workshops, and participating in art shows and other events.

Connection Salon

Connection Salon

Founded in 2018, Connection Salon Artists Collective empowers underrepresented artists, especially those with lived experience of mental health challenges. As the only artist-run collective in Vancouver centering Mad-identifying artists, we work to dismantle stigma and systemic exclusion through inclusive programming, cultural celebration, and collective care. We see mental difference not as a deficit, but as a vital source of creativity, insight, and community strength.

MPA Society

We believe recovery is achievable through support, empowerment, autonomy, and responsibility.

In 1971 MPA was formed by a grass roots group of mental patients and like-minded individuals, and began offering housing alternatives and support to people facing the challenges of mental illness. MPA now facilitates housing and support for over 1,000 people in 13 municipalities in the GVRD and employs over 300 staff in 34 unique programs that offer a range of services including advocacy, community resources, homeless outreach, and a continuum of community, supported, enhanced, licensed and housing first programs.

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