Upcoming Residencies
Griffin x ECU Fellowship Studio Award Winner: Claudia Goulet-Blais
September 1 - December 31, 2025
Claudia Goulet-Blais research focuses on maternal relationships, exploring the complexities of care and the shifting roles within family dynamics. Working collaboratively with their mother, they examine the nuances of intimacy, distance, and gesture—specifically, the embrace, which has become a recurring motif. The work draws inspiration from 19th-century hidden mother photography, exploring the tensions of physical and emotional proximity and distance, reflecting on mortality and loss, and examining the historical undervaluing of women’s care work.
Claudia’s proposed project for the duration of the residency is a photography-publication that builds on her MFA research work, specifically expanding upon her thesis project mère-fille: an archive of care.
Image: Claudia Goulet-Blais, Hidden Daughter series from mère-fille: an archive of care, 2025, Image courtesy of the Artist
GRIFFIN X ECU Similkameen Studio Award Recipient: Boya Liang
Dates TBD
Boya Liang’s practice investigates the creation of spaces for encountering uncertainty, impermanence, and transformation. Drawing from their Chinese heritage and informed by experiences across diverse cultures, they navigate the confluence of art, science, and Daoist philosophy through material explorations that reveal invisible connections between individual existence and cosmic cycles.
Boya notes, “The Similkameen residency offers the temporal and spatial openness I need to refine my artistic language, deepen my inquiry, and begin a new chapter with intention. I value the opportunity to live and work within a small community of artists where conversations can emerge organically, and meaningful exchanges can develop at their own pace. This intimate, reflective environment provides the support I require as I move toward a more sustainable and self-defined artistic practice.”
Image: Boya Liang Photo: Image courtesy of Boya Liang
Curator in Residence: Matilde Nuzzo (Italy)
September 4 - 8, 2025
Matilde Nuzzo is a sinologist by training and visual arts curator by profession, graduating from Venice’s venerable Universita Ca’Foscari. Over the last five years she founded LensArt, an initiative to highlight neuro-diverse artists and inclusivity, and has curated and managed numerous exhibitions, workshops and cultural events to deliver significant viewer experiences. Project partners include Pistoletto Foundation, University of Verona, Fondazione Marchesani (Venice), ArtVerona 2023, l’Atelier Espressivo Ticino and Spazio Thetis (Venice), among others. Matilde is project manager for the Italy Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka and was a project coordinator and gallery manager for Art Museum at the University of Toronto’s presentation of Ydessa Hendeles: Grand Hotel, an official collateral event at the 60th Venice Biennale (2024). Matilde also produces the monthly people column on ArtsLife.com featuring interviews with artists (including Canadians such as Leesa Streifler, Mats Nordstrom and Zachari Logan).
While in Canada, Matilde will conduct studio and gallery visits and offer public talks on her curatorial practice including her ongoing projects to elevate inclusivity and community-development practices with neuro-diverse artists.
Image: Courtesy of Matilde Nuzzo