THANK YOU for attending our community-created gallery for the first day of our SHAW programming (or Sexual Health Awareness Week).
The event featured artists from across the GTA, as well as an hour of storytelling/oral history from leZlie Lee Kam from 7:30-8:30pm.
The Son You Wanted
Omar Canales-Cisneros (He/Him)
CW: Partial nudity, discourse on transphobia
Submerged in Smut
Andi Litwin (They/Them)
Ig: @DandiLionArts
CW: NSFW - depictions of nudity and sexual content throughout
As a queer non-binary person, I both see myself within this piece and without it - a person who participates in objectification, and has been objectified myself. How it can be both a space to have fun and enjoy the experience in safe, queer spaces, and also a place of isolation and overwhelm as I navigate what I like to see within my identity, and what I enjoy in others, and what is forced upon me. This piece reflects on feminine sexuality and its impact on self-perception. Using cutouts from decades of printed media, it captures the broad spectrum of how femininity and sexuality have been represented and consumed. Through the eyes of others, the feminine body has been both exploited and celebrated throughout history, with depictions of the “ideal woman” shaping how we come to see ourselves as we peer into an endless void of sexual content.
The experience can feel all-consuming, yet it is also something that can be reclaimed - an opportunity to take ownership, build resilience, and draw strength while forming an understanding of the self and desire. As a queer person, I reflect on how my identity and sexuality have been shaped by this visual culture over the course of my life, and on the complicated space I occupy as both a participant in and subject of this kind of media.
Andi (They/Them) is a contemporary Toronto-based artist, marketer, and organizer. With over a decade of experience in digital media and design, they have developed a strong practice rooted in storytelling through mixed media, illustration, and traditional painting. Their work draws on a deep interest in psychology, visual narrative, and LGBTQ+ activism, weaving society-critical reflection with whimsical and playful elements. Through hands-on experimentation across mediums, Andi creates work that is deeply personal - infused with heart, passion, and humor - inviting viewers to reflect on how we engage with ourselves and the world around us.
Despite Everything
Ace Meltzer he/him
CW: Depersonalization, body dysmorphia
Despite Everything is a comic page I drew in response to the odd sensation of not recognizing yourself in the mirror. The comic was done in one day, and is a bit of a rush job, but I wanted to express how I felt and only using words wasn't doing the trick anymore. I've drawn many of these one-page comics, and they function a bit like diary entries, leaving an imprint of how I felt at a specific time.
Benji (Ace) Meltzer (he/him) is a second year student at UofT who loves painting with watercolor (especially comics and realistic birds). He is interested in the study of religion, and hopes to be an author someday.
I Don't Remember Much
Pink Banana Sparkles
Shannon Sebert
she/her
@pinkbananasparkles
Shannon Sebert is the sole creative force behind Pink Banana Sparkles. Using her lived experiences as inspiration, Shannon works with bold colours and honesty to bring a sense of whimsy into subjects that are often avoided or looked at with shame.
Shannon is queer, polyamorous and a sex worker, as well as a single mother and she uses her art to document her own journeys of self-reflection. In the interest of developing an increased sense of self and body love, Shannon began focusing on colourful interpretations of bodies, allowing her to encourage others to see themselves in a more compassionate light through her work.
Shannon’s work is always bold, colourful, honest, and slightly chaotic- exactly the way she lives her life.
^ Click image above to read the full poem ^
“Point of You/view”
Pink Banana Sparkles
Shannon Sebert
she/her
@pinkbananasparkles
I loved my experience within the sex industry, and it was nothing short of life changing for me. I spent years hiding details, because I felt a lot of what I like to call- Shame by Proxy. I never felt shame myself, but I felt pressured from the shame that society loudly holds for those in the industry. Being open and honest about my time and experiences has been so cathartic for me, and I've had so many others reach out to express their gratitude for it.
Shame dies in safe places.
I’ve always been fascinated by mirrors, and their ability to shape our view of ourselves, whether its detrimental, beneficial, or anywhere in between. These two pieces are inspired from images of myself, over a decade apart- Two completely different places in life, and yet so similar. Pink lipstick and big eyelashes are some of my favourite elements of glamour and power-both main focuses of these pieces. When I put these on, it feels like a transformation into a part of myself that I dreamt of for most of my life.
I find something so poetic about capturing an image of a mirror reflection, represented on a mirror, almost placing you, the viewer, within the same spot I was in when the photos were taken.
The gallery took place on February 9th from 6:30-10:00pm at the Tranzac Main Hall -- 292 Brunswick Ave, Toronto, ON M5S 2M7.
The theme is "Leaving Evidence" inspired by disability justice writer and educator Mia Mingus.
“We must leave evidence. Evidence that we were here, that we existed, that we survived and loved and ached. Evidence of the wholeness we never felt and the immense sense of fullness we gave to each other. Evidence of who we were, who we thought we were, who we never should have been. Evidence for each other that there are other ways to live—past survival; past isolation.”
When people's lives and histories are intentionally being lost, erased, and forgotten, what are the ways we document our own lives and histories as an act of radical memory-keeping? And how can we preserve the collective-memory of our communities?
To all the incredible artists, and every person who showed up to the event, thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
Special thank—yous go out to Zo, of ZOsCUISINE for the incredible food (and being a phenomenal human), the folks at the Tranzac for all their help to make our event accessible and comfortable, and of course the incomparable leZlie (and her posse) for trusting us with your stories and wisdom.
SHAW (S)EXpo Art
Ashes and oil on salvadorial Textile, 25x31x30” (trapezoid), 2024.
The Son You Wanted represents a pivotal moment in the development of my artistic practice, marking a shift toward conceptual and material self-assurance. This work constitutes the first instance in which I fully embraced the convergence of my gender identity, cultural heritage, and familial position, a confidence reflected in my decision to wear a traditional Salvadorian ribbon skirt. The flared silhouette of the garment informed the physical construction of the work; rather than employing a conventional rectangular support, I fabricated custom stretcher bars and canvas in a trapezoidal form, allowing the composition to mirror the embodied presence of the skirt.
The title, The Son You Wanted, alludes to my position as the first-born child within my family while simultaneously acknowledging my exclusion from the patriarchal designation of “first-born son.” This tension foregrounds broader discourses of gender, masculinity, and inheritance within Latin American households, where masculinity is often closely tied to lineage, authority, and cultural continuity. As a trans man, my relationship to these expectations is marked by both proximity and rupture, occupying a space that challenges normative constructions of gender while remaining deeply embedded within familial and cultural frameworks.
Omar Canales-Cisneros is a Barrie-based painter of Salvadorian descent. He has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from OCAD University (Toronto), where he graduated with a major in Drawing and Painting and a minor in Sculpture and Installation. In 2025, he was awarded the Untapped People’s Choice Award at Artist Project Toronto. Canales-Cisneros’s practice is primarily based in painting and expands into sculpture and installation. As a Latin American man, his work is concerned with exploring issues of identity, including heritage, sexuality, gender, and the intersectionality of these fields. His practice implements the artistic methodology of decreation by burning materials that represent the conceptual aspects of his work and incorporating the resulting ashes as pigment for oil paint into a final body of work.