- / The Inc.

Cohosted with Hamilton Zine Club, join us at Hamilton Artists Inc. in Ontario for this event. Pre-registration is required.

Joni “Snack Witch” Cheung and Luke Johnson believe in ghosts: the people, the places, the objects, and the narratives which haunt us and disrupt our understanding of the present. In the face of a cultural moment where corporations, nation-states, and institutions pit individuals and collectives against one another under the guise of scarcity and survival, how might engaging with these ghosts of the past change our outlooks on how to move towards the future?

In this series of co-creation workshops, Cheung and Johnson dig into the textual materials from the last 50 years, from an exploration of the archives of Latitude 53 and three host galleries in different cities. In collaboration with Hamilton Zine Club, we’ll be hosting a Zine workshop exploring what it means to access place and space in Hamilton. Join us to re-imagine the history of the artist-run-centre movement and the many ephemeral works it hosted, now visible to us only a short descriptions, artist statements, and posters.


About the Artists:

Joni Cheung is a grateful, uninvited guest born—and knows she wants to die—on the unceded territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm, Skwxwú7mesh, Stó:lō, and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh peoples. Currently, she is working on the stolen lands of the Kanien’kehá:ka peoples. They are a Certified Sculpture Witch with an MFA from Concordia University (2023). A wicked #magicalgirl eating art + making snacks⁠, their interdisciplinary practice investigates the relationship between objects↔place↔identity, navigating discourses of transnationalism, migration, and diasporas, always with humour, and sometimes with food.

Luke Johnson is a Minnesota-born artist currently based in Edmonton, Alberta on Treaty 6 territory. Working in print, publications, and durational engagements within collections, Johnson draws from the stories and unintended afterlives of archival materials, creating works which complicate notions such as standardized categorization and stasis within systems of knowledge. He received his BFA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and his MFA from the University of Alberta, where he is currently a lecturer in printmaking and drawing.

Sonali Menezes is an interdisciplinary artist based in Hamilton, ON. She tries her best to eat three meals a day and is the youngest of triplets. While her work spans many mediums, she has been most recently focused on poetry, video, printmaking and zines. In 2018 Sonali’s chapbook zine won the Broken Pencil Magazine Zine Award for best literary zine. In 2019 she was the recipient of the City of Hamilton’s Emerging Artist Award in Media Arts. Right now her work is focused on care. Care for herself, care for her body, care for kin and community. Sonali’s hoping to find more balance between her day job in arts administration and her artistic practice so she can spend less time on emails and more time on art making, got any tips? Visit: instagram.com/sonaleeeeeee

Mariel Rutherford (she/her) is a graduate of the Bachelor of Illustration program at Sheridan College. Mariel Illustrates, has experience as an Arts Administrator, enjoys facilitating workshops and has worked on a few animation projects! She is currently working out of Hamilton, Ontario. Mariel is interested in the relationship between traditional and digital media, embroidery and drawing fan art. She loves creating posters for local bands and events, and is most inspired to draw in the fall. Visit https://www.marielrutherford.com/