Sonia Ekyior-Katimi: Late Bloomers

Now residing in Montreal, Sonia Ekiyor-Katimi is an emerging artist who has been actively engaged in Sudbury’s art scene since they studied at the McEwen School of Architecture. This is the first exhibition by the artist in a public art gallery. Sonia Ekiyor-Katimi was artist-in-residence with Galerie du Nouvel Ontario (Sudbury) this summer and was previously exhibited by Up Here. This exhibition features 12 original works, including paintings on canvas and paper.

Through interviews and multimedia portraits, the artist’s recent residency at GNO (Sudbury) shared the stories of four people (Princesse, Kawtar & Avery, Gaia) of varied identities and experiences with queerness and diaspora. These portraits present a subtle story of (self) love, expression, and community in an attempt to give dignified representation to queer people from origins that reject queerness.

“This body of work consists of portraits of fictional characters as well as friends and community members who have had interrupted histories because of their identities and are now learning to be free. It shows glimpses of the stories of late bloomers who hid beautiful parts of themselves once and are now catching up with themselves, trying to connect to culture, nature, and community through living shamelessly. Although some characters are very serious, others provide a whimsical expression of facing and releasing shame.”  – Sonia Ekiyor-Katimi