Speculative::
Skaṝ-broügĥ
Scarborough Arts’ 39th Annual Juried Exhibition
✨CALLING ALL EARTHSEEDS::Depart from reality. Go beyond the everyday machinations, and reveal the mutations of
Area X/Scarborough✨
PRIZES
$1500 - 1st place (x1 per category)
$750 - 2nd place (x1 per category)
$750 - Scarborough Arts Student Achievement Award* (x1)
Swag bag - Staff Pick Winners (x1 per category)
*Scarborough Arts Student Achievement Award: This prize is for a student of any age currently enrolled or planning to attend secondary school (9-12) or post-secondary school (university/college, etc.) in the 2024-25 academic year. When you submit your application for this category, please identify yourself as a Student, indicate your area of study, and your current year of study below.
The Student Achievement Award is generously supported by community donations.
This year’s AJE calls for work steeped in elements of speculative fiction to comment on the socio-political, economic, and cultural conditions of Scarborough today. Speculative fiction is a genre of fiction that encompasses works in which the setting is other than the real world, involving supernatural, futuristic, or other imagined elements.
Tell us how you experience an imagined Scarborough. From the aunties in Tim Horton’s brewing their daily morning potions, to the monstrous 401, or the robot workers building the Eglinton line - show us the magic of our community, and let us bear witness to the dystopia and boundless possibilities of Speculative::Skaṝ-broügĥ (Speculative Scarborough) 🪄
This year, Scarborough Arts is accepting submissions for the following categories:
🛸 Visual Arts
🛸 Literary Arts
🛸 Auditory Arts
Featured works will be selected by a panel of jurors.
EXHIBITION
a place to fall,
Deepikah R Bhardwaj
Second Place - VISUAL ARTS
VERN,
Asia Clarke / WILD MOON
Staff Pick
Voiceless Dental Fricative θ,
gitanjali lena
LITERARY ARTS
Earth Illusion / Stand Strong,
Mei Chan-Long
VISUAL ARTS
energy protection,
Sharon Tung
VISUAL ARTS
An Ode to Mom,
Wendy Law
VISUAL ARTS & LITERARY ARTS
Untitled,
Zeni Shariff
VISUAL ARTS
Untitled,
Ann Marie Leon
VISUAL ARTS
Trying is a Ritual,
Krish Dineshkumar
First Place - AUDITORY ARTS
(There Is) No Utopia,
Tone Bailey
First Place - VISUAL ARTS
A collective gash on the thigh,
gitanjali lena
Second Place - LITERARY ARTS
A Letter To The Ghost Of A Friend,
Patrick Goudie
Honourable Mention - LITERARY ARTS
Arrival at Kennedy Station,
Revill Villanueva
BIG ART BOOK Cover
Time Capsule,
Tanya Adèle Koehnke
LITERARY ARTS
Mansa Musa’s Vision of the Year 3000,
Zeni Shariff
VISUAL ARTS
Untitled,
Irene Law
VISUAL ARTS
Untitled,
Josephine Mazzaro
VISUAL ARTS
The Legend of Johnny Scarborough,
George Yonemori
First Place - LITERARY ARTS
THE CEO MINDSET,
George Yonemori
Second Place - AUDITORY ARTS
OUR ANCESTORS CATCH THEIR FLIGHTS FROM WARDEN STATION,
Sharon Tung
Student Achievement Award
Floating Empress / Eyes of the Lotus / Dual Realms,
Anupa Khemdasa
VISUAL ARTS
No Service on Line 3,
Elnaz Hessami Pilehrood
VISUAL ARTS
ghosts don’t need passports,
gitanjali lena
VISUAL ARTS
Healthy Arts for Seniors,
Golden Lens!
Portrait of Liam,
Ebru Winegard
VISUAL ARTS
Untitled,
Lubna Majeed
VISUAL ARTS
Untitled,
Lisa Henshall
VISUAL ARTS
Visual Arts
Rajni Perera was born in Sri Lanka in 1985 and lives and works in Toronto. She explores issues of hybridity, futurity, ancestorship, migrant and marginalized identities/cultures, monsters and dream worlds. These themes come together to fuel explorations within a multimedia practice that includes drawing and painting, clay, wood, lanterns, new media sculpture, textile, and most recently, synthetic taxidermy. Perera seeks to open and reveal the dynamism of the icons, beings and objects she creates by means of a subversive aesthetic that counteracts antiquated, oppressive discourse, and acts as a restorative force. Perera’s work is in the collections of the Art Gallery of Ontario, the National Gallery of Canada, the Sobey Foundation, and the Musée De Beaux Arts De Montréal.
THE JURORS
Rajni Perera
Auditory Arts
Kevin Ramroop is an experimental musician, writer, and community arts facilitator from Scarborough. Shaped by the diverse migratorial history of his heritage and upbringing, his artistic pursuits are as multifaceted in medium as the cultures that inspire them - ultimately woven together through a lifelong focus on sound, storytelling, and community
Kevin Ramroop
Canisia Lubrin
Written Arts
Canisia Lubrin is a writer, editor and teacher, author of five books, including The Dyzgraph*st, The World After Rain, and Code Noir. Her honours include a 2021 Windham-Campbell Prize, OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature Griffin Poetry Prize. Lubrin has been twice a finalist for the Governor General’s Award. She has been a fellow at the Banff Centre, Civitella Ranieri, Literature Colloquium, among others.
A professor and coordinator of the University of Guelph Creative Writing MFA in the School of English & Theatre Studies, she is poetry editor at McClelland & Stewart. Code Noir (Knopf, 2024) her fiction debut, contains 59 drawings by acclaimed visual artist, Torkwase Dyson and is a finalist for the Atwood Gibson Writers Trust Prize for Fiction.
Meet the DJs -
NÜSÖUND
a homegrown movement dedicated to inspiring positive creativity within the community. We support artists of all types, empowering them to bring their artistic visions to life. As an all-inclusive movement, we celebrate diversity and creativity, fostering a welcoming space for everyone to express and thrive.
Find them at @nusoundto
Meet the Photographer -
Daren Valdez
currently studying as a film production student at York University. Born and raised in Toronto, Daren is pursuing a career in the film industry as a director & cinematographer.
Currently working freelance, Daren is passionate about taking on any experience and challenge that involves being behind the camera.
Find them at darenvaldez.com
Jermain LintonMeet the Caterer -
Cooked Until Tender
a project through which Krish offers catering services and food-related programming across the city of Toronto. The aim of Cooked Until Tender is to teach people how to cook and facilitate discussions around food insecurity, communal care, gender equity, and food ethnography.
Find them at @cookeduntiltender
Taran Persaud
