Events > Edition Launch

15 Oct. 2022

Library of Infinities at NY Art Book Fair

Artists
Shaya Ishaq and GLOWZI
Designer
Simon Guibord
Publisher
SAW Centre
Time
2-4pm

Art Metropole is pleased to collaborate with SAW Centre (Ottawa) to present a launch of the Library of Infinities, by artist Shaya Ishaq. Library of Infinities is an interactive digital archive of Black and Afro-diasporic literature, film, and music from Canada and beyond. This digital platform invites online visitors to submit to a growing database of books by authors of the afro-diaspora.

For the launch at the NY Art Book Fair, two limited edition series of works designed with Shaya’s creative direction will be released at Art Metropole’s booth (C56). A collaboration with multidisciplinary artist G L O W Z I that celebrates the launch of the Library of Infinities as a digital platform will be showcased. Additionally, a series of posters and tote bags designed by Simon Guibord will also be available. These memorabilia celebrate the humble beginnings of the project and exhibition that took place at SAW, an artist-run center in Ottawa, during the summer of 2021.


Shaya Ishaq is an interdisciplinary artist and the creative director of Library of Infinities. In her practice, her research interests span craft, diaspora, design anthropology, and (afro)futurisms. Devoted to materiality, she works with textiles and clay to create wearable art, jewelry, and installations. She has studied Fibres and Material Practices at Concordia University and has exhibited her work at venues including the Khyber Centre for the Arts, SAW Centre, and the Art Gallery of Burlington.

G L O W Z I is a multidisciplinary artist based in Tiohtià:ke. Using and relying on their curiosity as an apparatus to understand & (re)discover the multiple realms they engage with(in), the artist’s mediums of choice encompass plural art forms such as painting, graphic design, filmmaking, photography, and original music production. By visually and/or auditorily rendering their ways of thinking, their questionings, and their embodied experiences, G L O W Z I conveys anyone whose eyes and/or ears meet their creations to their funky, spicy, and well-seasoned artistic universe(s).

Simon Guibord is a graphic designer who works in cultural, academic and commercial circles. Since 2015, he has taught typography at the University of Quebec in Outaouais.

From its inception in 1973, the artist-run centre SAW has supported politically and socially engaged art, focusing on the performance and media arts. Many of the world’s best-known artists have exhibited at SAW in the early stages of their careers.Many of the world’s best-known artists have exhibited at SAW in the early stages of their careers. Begun by a group of local artists, the gallery was originally part of the legendary café Le Hibou on Sussex Drive, hence the name SAW, an acronym for Sussex Annex Works. In 1981, the centre founded the SAW Video cooperative to support independent video artists and documentarists. During this time, the centre also initiated Club SAW, which has become the most important multidisciplinary space in the region. In 1989, SAW Gallery, SAW Video and Club SAW moved into the historic Arts Court building. Since 2001, SAW Video, now called the Digital Arts Resource Centre, has operated as a distinct organization no longer legally affiliated with SAW, although both share a home at Arts Court and continue to collaborate on many projects. SAW aims to become a premier artist-run centre in Canada and the world, engaging in innovative programming, outreach and exchange initiatives. With over 30,000 visitors each year, SAW is a prime destination in the Ottawa-Gatineau region for contemporary art.

  1. Library of Infinities