KETTY HAOLIN ZHANG

“I’m a Vancouver-based artist working primarily in painting and mixed-media sculpture. My work is rooted in my experience growing up in northeastern China and immigrating to Canada as a teenager, shaped by a sense of identity that’s constantly in flux. Lately, I’ve been making nighttime paintings and small found-object sculptures that explore personal history, desire, and devotion.

“What draws me to nighttime scenes is the intimacy and emotional tension. Things often feel close and distant at the same time, and emotions feel both fragile and heightened. Nighttime experiences pushed me to break out of my shell, where there's always a negotiation of belonging and selfhood, of rawness and performance. I want to think about belonging without centring it on cultural specificity, but instead through the places and behaviours that shape how we move through the world.

“Each of these nighttime paintings carries a story: some are metaphors for a personal relationship, a realisation, or a state of mind, while others are romanticised versions of emotionally charged nights in my life. Sometimes I tell the story behind a painting publicly and sometimes I prefer to share it privately, but there are always delightful surprises in hearing what people read into the work on their own.”

STEVEN RAHBANY

“I am an artist based in Los Angeles, creating hand-sewn plushy art that explores memory, future telling, and childhood trauma through a queer multi-cultural lens. Through stitch work of plushies resembling childhood, I reflect on both the past and present, confronting emotions that are intrinsically linked to past traumas, both individually and collectively. 

“I originally went to art school, but I started this sewing method six years ago after a breakup brought back childhood traumatic responses, so I used the pillow art to confront and ultimately resolve those traumas through large-scale stitch work. I wanted to use stitching and sewing – linked to my Lebanese grandmother – as a way to build and create my own cultural and queer identity. A recurring theme within my work is the use of dark humour to create a dialogue traversing past and present, as well as the politics of materials. The juxtaposition of child-like textures and the uncomfortable topics around society and adulthood allows me to take on these issues in a playful way

“The series here showcases the myriad of issues we face today; the bleak future we feel with the rise of technology, social and political issues we face, constant conspiracies, and memories of childhood that present themselves in various ways. I weave together a stream of consciousness that draws you in to reflect.”

YAS AVDJI

“I’m a freelance photographer and creative director. My work focusses on challenging who is seen and heard through visual storytelling using photography, film and photogrammetry techniques. My recent work has involved collaborating and shooting with various talent across London – I spotlight these individuals' disciplines and backgrounds across music, fashion, and photography.

“With community, collaboration, and connection being central to my practice, I held my first event this summer: A Voice Amplified welcomed London’s creative crowds with DJ sets by Cocobutta2.0, Damsel, and Chinua hosted at the Koppel Project in Camden. The evening featured a photography exhibition showcasing my own work alongside pieces by Berlin-based photographer Domi Wolf and Paris-based photographer Alpha Medy Kaba, commissioned by me and my project partner Royeeth, to capture emerging creatives in their cities. The photos show what went down and who came along to my first exhibition opening.”

CARO CAMPOBELLO

“I'm Caro Campobello – Argentinian, queer, half-Italian, half-Polish, born and raised in Buenos Aires. I relocated to Mexico City seven years ago and now bounce between Latam, Europe and the US. My work is a rollercoaster of emotions, shifting and evolving as I surf through life. Like a timestamp of a feeling or question I was exploring at the time.

“I started instinctively stealing my mum’s analogue camera at 13 and still shoot from the gut. My recurring themes explore non-identity and the body as a mutable container – figures without faces, bodies that bend, break, and morph based on what’s happening inside. I also shift between fantasy and reality, I think there’s an oneiric space that coexists in each mind, and I strive to make mine and the worlds of the people I shoot tangible, to share with the universe.

“I don’t intend to create beautiful images for the sake of aesthetics – I’m here to open conversation, tell stories, and reflect states of being. Those stories take many forms, sometimes born from a dream or fantasy, other times rooted in someone's reality. I’m deeply inspired by people and most of my work happens while I travel, meeting collaborators and immersing myself fully, often obsessively, in their worlds for brief but intense moments.”