Sonia Ekiyor-Katimi and Ruby Gibson

SONIA EKIYOR-KATIMI
Sonia Ekiyor-Katimi is a Nigerian self taught artist completing her master of architecture in Sudbury. Challenging the stereotypes that restrict individual Blackness, she determines to represent the quotidian as well as the intricacies of Black culture in daily life.

With a mindset of placeless, Sonia Ekiyor-Katimi aims to represent all the observations of Blackness and adaptability as it pertains to her history living in three different continents without a fixed identity.

As a primary architectural professional, Sonia has taken part in art festivals, art battles and storefront displays but is finding her way into the realm of being a multidisciplinary creator through architecture, set design, painting, photography, drawing and collage.

RUBY GIBSON
Ruby Gibson was born in Harare, Zimbabwe to a Zimbabwean mother and Canadian father. She discovered a love for art through her grandmother, a professional painter in British Columbia. Ruby studied graphic design at York University and Sheridan College in their Honours Bachelor of Design program. Ruby loves teaching arts & crafts workshops as well as volunteering in the community. Ruby owns and operates an eco-friendly arts & crafts company called Artcraft Co. that focuses on using art as a tool for environmental awareness education. When she is not making art or running her business, Ruby works in film and television both behind the scenes and in front of the camera.

Ruby’s focus for this exhibition is Afro-futurism. So much of African history has been lost to the violent sands of time, leaving behind an incomplete picture of who we really are. In her collection, Ruby asks the viewer to abandon their preconceptions of what it is to be black today and imagine a new future where the earth is sacred, the possibilities are limitless and beauty is infinite.

As a biracial woman, Ruby’s work is informed by the sense of otherness that comes along with being a connecting bridge between two often polarized worlds.