In partnership with EQ Bank
December 11th, 2024 - January 11th, 2025
Carmilla Sumantry
Francisco Gonzalez-Rosas
Moni Omubor
Quinn Hopkins
Studio Ekosi
The Emerging Digital Artists Award is an annual celebration of advanced creativity and critical experimentation in digital media. Now in its 10th year, the prize recognizes the exceptional talents of emerging artists in Canada working at the forefront of the genre, highlighting the prolific and dynamic ways in which technology and art intersect.
This year’s exhibition presents the work of five remarkable artists whose practices challenge conventions and redefine the possibilities of digital expression. Across five distinct categories of digital art—still image; moving image; 2D interactive; extended reality; and 3D installation—each recipient represents a unique voice in the discipline, exploring themes such as embodied knowledge, glitch, media-driven commodification and consumption, self-image and representation, and post-colonial futures. Together, their work invites us to reconsider our relationship with technology and the ways in which it shapes our understanding of the world around us, while generating new worlds that offer a glimpse into what is possible.
Artist Bios
Moni Omubor is a Lagos-born visual artist and designer based in Lethbridge, Alberta. Her new media practice uses speculative fiction to explore the interconnectedness of Black diasporic realities and postcolonial Nigerian identity. She holds a B.Sc. in Architecture and an MFA in New Media from the University of Lethbridge and is a member of the Lethbridge-based Black art collective, We’re Here Too.
Carmilla Sumantry is an interdisciplinary creative based in so-called Vancouver, with a background in industrial design, 3D art, and animation. Her practice explores the relationship between emerging creative technology and art through an existential lens informed by her second-generation Indonesian-Canadian heritage and queer identity.
Studio Ekosi is Caeleigh and Keara Lightning, mixed Irish and Nehiyaw sisters based in Edmonton, Alberta. Caeleigh is a Two-Spirit artist and illustrator whose work explores themes of queerness and interconnectivity, and Keara is a PhD student at the University of Alberta, where she advocates for Indigenous-led scientific research. Together, they create narrative games about Indigenous futures.
Quinn Hopkins is a Toronto-based artist working at the intersection of Urban Indigenous culture and new media, crafting a vibrant dialogue between Indigenous history, urban life, and futuristic visions. Rooted in Anishinaabe-Métis traditions, he reimagines Indigenous iconography for the modern era. His digital creations and immersive installations have been presented at Evergreen Brick Works, Toronto; Thunder Bay Art Gallery; and Hart House at the University of Toronto.
Francisco Gonzalez-Rosas (he/they) is a Chilean performance and new media artist based in Tiohtià:ke/Montréal. Their practice explores existing and speculative crossovers between body and technology, emphasizing the politics of these encounters. Francisco holds an MFA in Intermedia from Concordia University, Montreal, and a BA in Acting from Finis Terrae University, Santiago, and their work has been included in exhibitions at Fondation Phi, Montreal; Centre Caravansérail, Rimouski; and Centre for Culture & Technology, Toronto.
