PUBLIC ART: Billboard on Shaw by Yuhan Zheng
August 8, 2023 - October 7, 2023OCAD University’s RBC Centre for Emerging Artists & Designers (CEAD), in partnership with Critical Distance Centre for Curators (CDCC), is pleased to present this Public Art Billboard and Exhibition Essay Career Launcher featuring artwork by Yuhan Zheng and a commissioned essay by Avalon Mott, available to read here.
Round and Full is on view at 180 Shaw Street, outside Artscape Youngplace, through August to October, 2023.
About the OCAD U Career Launcher Recipients
Yuhan Zheng is a lens-based artist living in Toronto. Yuhan’s work is grounded in her daily experiences and her approach mainly involves performance and self-portrait. She is interested in investigating the ambiguity of the boundary between the virtual and the real. Through practice, she seeks to reveal the intricacies of navigating identities and finding a sense of belonging in a diverse, constantly changing world. Her artistic interests also extend to the inter- generational relationships within her own family and the relationship between materiality and spirituality.
Avalon Mott (she/her) is a curator, lens-based artist, and arts administrator originally from Vancouver BC, now calling Toronto/Tkaronto home. She was a Co-Founder of FIELD Contemporary (Vancouver), and is the current Director of Xpace Cultural Centre. A recent graduate from OCAD U with her MFA in Criticism + Curatorial Practice, Avalon’s curatorial practice is rooted in supporting emerging and under-represented artists. Her thesis research explores the curatorial methodology of exhibitionary affect and how it can aid in creating moments to feel by encouraging relational experiences between the viewer and the works on display.
Since 2016, Critical Distance has programmed the Billboard outside our former home at 180 Shaw Street between Dundas and Queen streets. Thank you to Youngplace for their continued support and participation in this long-running public art initiative.
Thanks to OCAD University’s RBC Centre for Emerging Artists & Designers for their support of this Career Launcher Partnership.
Critical Distance gratefully acknowledges funding support from the Ontario Arts Council, an agency of the Government of Ontario.
Image: Yuhan Zheng, Round and Full, 2021. Image courtesy of the artist.