HEIST is thrilled to launch the LUCID Digital Gallery! The gallery features a variety of works from across artistic disciplines that were created and fostered through participation in LUCID - a virtual professional development program that ran from January-July 2023.

Conceived and facilitated by Two-Spirit Anishinaabe artist Vie Jones, produced by the HEIST team, and featuring a team of guest knowledge keepers and artist mentors, LUCID invited queer artists aged 18-30 to develop new works in response to the question: “What kind of future do you dream of?”

Using Anishinaabeg pedagogical ontologies and rooted in concepts of the Medicine Wheel and traditional knowledge, the program offered seven sessions that maintained a focus on community, collaboration, and self-care with the intent of telling stories of queer resilience through art. These sessions led the participants to create their own individual works (in-progress) which were supported, nurtured, and documented for digital presentation.

Each participant’s page in this gallery showcases their project/artistic work, information about the artist and a short podcast. The participant’s projects are in various stages of development - from seed of an idea to fully completed artistic work.

The LUCID projects include:

A filmed drag exploration of the historical figure Joan of Arc titled, ‘Why do Saints Have To Suffer’ by Lou Campbell
A textile work of original fish leather titled ‘The Spite Hat’ by Lara Lewis
A multimedia work featuring a sculpted giraffe titled ‘Lost’ by Urvi Bhatt
An original painting titled ‘Will we Remember? Who will Remind Us?’ by Rebecca Fernandes
A portfolio of digital paintings by Ceilidh Pitaw
A textile/fabric work of quilted cyanotypes titled ‘to sleep we must dream’ by Donica Larade
A multimedia work featuring collage and poetry titled ‘Where Do We Go From Here?’ by Chloé Bramble
A creative writing piece/object installation titled ‘The Great Currency Exhibition’ by Frisia 李昕怿
An audio work of stories from elders by Nailah
A digital work focusing in on favorite foods titled ‘Midnight Snacks’ by Riel Reddick-Stevens

“I have learned so much by being with these participants,” says Vie Jones. “I feel like since the pandemic, it’s really made a huge impact on my sense of community and my ability to make art, my ability to just be happy. This was a project that I didn’t know that I needed just to find some sort of community because I’ve seen so much creativity with all of these projects. I see so much passion, drive, and talent, and I see all of these things that are just so wonderful and beautiful draw all of these people together in a way that I think is a lot more invested in our collective well-being.”

“The LUCID program provided a way to continue to question and challenge how we approach living in this world, who makes art and how they make it,” says Richie Wilcox, artistic director of HEIST. “This collaboration with Vie and this opportunity to learn as a person and an artist as we support and uplift the work of other emerging artists ultimately has been a gift. I truly hope people go to our site and take a look at all of the exciting work coming from this wide array of talented artists!”

HEIST and LUCID are supported by Arts Nova Scotia, the city of Halifax, the Canada Council for the Arts, The Black Family Foundation, and Theatre Nova Scotia.

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