Patrick Cruz was born in Quezon City, Philippines. Cruz studied painting at the University of the Philippines, Diliman, and holds a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Guelph, a certificate in Pochinko clowning, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Emily Carr University of Art + Design. Cruz's artistic and pedagogical practice is informed by the intersections of folk spirituality, diasporic aesthetics, cultural hybridity, and the ongoing project of decolonization.

Cruz has presented work at the Vancouver Art Gallery (Vancouver, CA); The Art Center of Chulangkorn (Bangkok, TH); Contemporary Art Gallery, (Vancouver, CA); Whose Museum (Malmӧ, SE); Plug In ICA (Winnipeg, CA); Project Panjee (Montreal, CA) Centre of Contemporary Asian Art (Vancouver, CA); Cultural Center of The Philippines (Manila, PH); Vargas Museum (Manila, PH); Obrera Centro (Mexico City, MX); Feldfünf (Berlin, DE); Oakville galleries (Oakville, CA); 1st Manila Biennale (Manila, PH); Gasworks (London, UK); 3331 Arts Chiyoda (Tokyo, JP) Gallery TPW (Toronto, CA); Art Gallery of Alberta (Edmonton, CA); Susan Hobbs Gallery (Toronto, CA); Or Gallery Berlin (Berlin, DE). Cruz is the recipient of the 2021 Thirteen Artist Award from the Cultural Center of the Philippines and the 17th RBC Canadian Painting Competition in 2015. He is an Assistant Professor in the department of Arts, Culture and Media at the University of Toronto, Scarborough.
www.patrickcruz.org

Su-Ying Lee is an independent curator and has also worked in institutions as Assistant Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art (MOCCA), Curator in Residence at the Justina M. Barnicke Gallery, and Assistant Curator at the Art Gallery of Mississauga. She received a Masters Degree in Curatorial Studies at the University of Toronto and is an alumnus of the Toronto Arts Council/Banff Centre’s Cultural Leaders’ Lab. Su-Ying’s projects have taken place across Canada, in Hong Kong, Mexico City and Quezon City (Metro Manila, Philippines). She writes creative non-fiction and social criticism.

Using gallery spaces for her work as well as self-determined platforms, engaging the possibilities within each site are considerable concerns of Su-Ying’s practice. Su-Ying is interested in employing the role of curator as a co-conspirator, accomplice and active agent. Querying what the presentation of art can contribute to creating *“otherwise” compels her.

*”Otherwise” is a concept that refers to relationality as new modes of living and organizing in the service of collective liberation, taken from Otherwise Worlds: Against Settler Colonialism and Anti-Blackness an anthology edited by Tiffany Lethabo King, Jenell Navarro, Andrea Smith, Duke University Press, 2020.
www.su-yinglee.com

Karie Liao is a community-driven art curator whose work engages public spaces and fosters relations to collectively inquire about contemporary issues. In addition to her independent practice, she is currently an Assistant Curator at the Blackwood Gallery at the University of Toronto, Mississauga. Her most recent curatorial work Geofenced was a group exhibition of new site-specific artworks that investigated how augmented reality technology (AR) alters the environment by making spaces more accessible or by creating new barriers. From 2017 to 2022, she worked as a Content Strategist for Snap Inc., a technology company at the forefront of AR development which continues to inform her research interests.

Liao was the Co-founder/Curatorial Projects Coordinator for the Toronto Art Book Fair and has also held past curatorial and artistic director positions at Cape Breton University Art Gallery, Artscape Youngplace, Contemporary Art Forum Kitchener and Area, and the Textile Museum of Canada. She has written for BlackFlash, C Magazine, the Canadian Media Fund, Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, and Vie des Arts. She holds a BA in Art History and Cultural Studies from McGill University, and an MA in Art History and Curatorial Practice diploma from York University.