The Ontario Heritage Trust is committed to respecting how artists choose to identify themselves and recognizes these as deeply personal decisions. These artist bios are written by the artists in their own words.

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Daniella Sanader (she/her) — writer, Toronto, Ontario

Daniella Sanader is a writer and reader who lives in Toronto. For over 10 years, she has been writing about (or alongside) artists’ practices, contributing texts to a number of arts publications, galleries and artist-run spaces across Canada and internationally. Currently, Sanader is working toward a PhD in Art History and Visual Culture at York University, where her doctoral research on artists’ writing is supported by a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Canada Graduate Scholarship. She has curated projects for spaces including Vtape, Gallery TPW and Oakville Galleries, and has previously participated in art writing residencies at the Banff Centre (2018) and Rupert in Vilnius, Lithuania (2022). At Fool’s Paradise, she will be working on a long-term writing experiment rooted in collaborative fiction reading with artists. Website

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Dawn Van de Schoot (she/her/hers) — writing and film, Calgary, Alberta

Dawn Van de Schoot is a multi-disciplinary artist and arts practitioner with a focus on community-engaged arts practices. Her extensive background in Theatre, Film and Public art come together in projects that cross boundaries and blend ways of working into new practices that invite social change and artistic excellence. With a Master of Fine Arts degree in theatre studies, Van de Schoot has extensive experience in community engagement based on Theatre of the Oppressed techniques and has co-written and facilitated many theatre productions, working with marginalized groups. She now focuses on screenwriting for film and is interested in writing feature-length screenplays that represent women over 40, LGBTQ experiences and exploring stories that are intrinsically tied to the land of rural Alberta. She uses magic realism in her work to emphasize elements of psychological relevance and to create a bit of poetry and mystery on the screen. When not writing, Van de Schoot is an actor and public art consultant with a variety of projects in process at all times. Website

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Nyda Kwasowsky (she/her) — dance and performance arts, Toronto, Ontario

“This body has the role of remembering, dance as the action that collects us.” Nyda Kwasowsky is a freelance dance artist, interpreter, performer and emerging choreographer based out of Tsi Tkaronto. Her work centres around grief, hybridity and belonging in a racialized diasporic experience. Studied in trauma-informed practices and somatics, Kwasowsky scores multidisciplinary improvisational and experimental explorations. Her most recent explorations look at the intersections of movement and cultural materiality. Website

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Zinnia Naqvi (she/her) — photography, video, digital art and writing, Toronto, Ontario

Zinnia Naqvi is a lens-based artist working in Tkaronto/Toronto. Her work examines issues of colonialism, cultural translation, social class and citizenship through the use of photography, video, the written word and archival material. Recent projects have included archival and re-staged images, experimental documentary films, video installations, graphic design and elaborate still-lives. Her artworks often invite the viewer to consider the position of the artist and the spectator, as well as analyze the complex social dynamics that unfold in front of the camera.

Naqvi’s work has been shown across Canada and internationally. She is a 2022 Fall Flaherty/Colgate Filmmaker in Residence and recipient of the 2019 New Generation Photography Award organized by the National Gallery of Canada. Naqvi is member of the EMILIA-AMALIA Working Group — an intergenerational feminist collective. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Photography Studies from the Toronto Metropolitan University and a Master of Fine Arts degree in Studio Arts from Concordia University. She is currently a sessional lecturer at the University of Toronto and Toronto Metropolitan University. Website

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Samuelle Grande (she/her) — painting, Montreal, Quebec

Samuelle Grande’s candid approach to colour, texture and design explores personal and found histories in forms that span installation, drawing and painting. Born in Montreal, she holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours) with a specialization in Studio Arts from Concordia University. She completed her Master of Fine Arts degree at the University of Guelph. Grande has exhibited her work in group and solo exhibitions at the Art Gallery of Guelph and the Boarding House Gallery, both in Guelph, and Galerie Nicolas Robert in Toronto. She is the recipient of several awards, including the Canadian Federation of Women Graduate Award (2023), the Board of Graduate Studies Award (2022) and the Tony Sherman Graduate Scholarship (2021). Grande gratefully acknowledges the support of the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation. Website

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Karen Kar Yen Law (she/her) — painting and printmaking, Markham, Ontario

Karen Kar Yen Law is a second-generation Chinese settler living, working, painting and printmaking on William’s Treaties’ land in Markham. Through the process of hybridizing printmaking and painting mediums, Law explores her connection to the Chinese diaspora using cooking, food and family recipes. Law holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree (Honours) and Bachelor of Education degree from Queen’s University. On graduation, Law was awarded the André Biéler Prize for achievement of the highest performance in studio work. She was the 2022 Emerging Printmaker Residency Scholarship holder at the Open Studio Contemporary Printmaking Centre in Toronto. Most recently, Law was awarded the 2023 Untapped People’s Choice Award at Toronto's independent artists fair at Artist Project. Law’s work has been exhibited throughout Kingston and Toronto, including the Union Gallery, the Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts, Gallery 1313, Myseum of Toronto and Open Studio. Website