curated. by The COVERT Collective is pleased to be collaborating with the City of Waterloo in Southwestern Ontario to bring you a showcase of three young artists making artwork in the region of Waterloo. Artists Faki Kuano, Sarah Cheon and Ashley Guenette were chosen by curated. editor Mark Walton and guest curator Conan Stark for their commitment to excellence in their practice, and the quality and resonance of their work to the many who’ve engaged with their practices.

Faki Kuano is a refugee from Sudan, whose childhood escape from civil war in that country is deeply reflected in his paintings. Ashley Guenette is a recent graduate from the University of Waterloo’s MFA program, whose work includes public murals in Sudbury and Waterloo, and several exhibitions across Canada. Sarah Cheon is a senior high school student enrolled in the International Baccalaureate program in Kitchener, ON, and is planning to continue her studies in art, in her post-secondary education.

Special thanks to Conan Stark, local arts educator, photographer, painter and board member with Contemporary Art Forum, Kitchener + Area (CAFKA).

Faki Kuano was born in Sudan in 1992. Kuano’s family is one of many that were forced to flee from their original home, seeking refuge from civil war. A self taught artist, his work deals mostly with trauma, love, tradition, fantasy and culture, through the lens of surrealism and abstraction.

Links

Instagram: https://instgram.com/@giftedfaki 

Sarah Cheon is an Ontario-based Grade 11 high school student, of Korean heritage, attending Cameron Heights Collegiate Institute. She enjoys using acrylic paint on canvas and wood panels, as well as watercolour, digital painting, and charcoal. Her process often involves layering, building up, and covering, especially with acrylic. Often inspired by music in her visual arts practice, her goal as an artist is to create art that can inspire others to create.

Links

Instagram: https://instgram.com/@_bezil 

Ashley Guenette is a Franco Ontarian artist from rural Northern Ontario. Her recent work draws from algorithmically – generated social media content in order to reveal their hidden forms of oppression and reframe them in critical, feminist contexts. Using analogue methods to interpret digital content, her drawings, paintings and multiples challenge aesthetic conventions of painting while engaging in an ongoing dialogue with its histories. Guenette holds an MFA from the University of Waterloo.

Links

Instagram: https://instgram.com/@ashleyguenart