2021 EDAA Exhibition

With works by Aljumaine Gayle, Erin Konsmo, Katelyn Hawley, Olivia Dreisinger, and Shonee

10 September – 2 October 2021

Exhibition on view at Trinity Square Video as well as online HERE

The 2021 EDAA Exhibition marks the seventh edition of the Emerging Digital Artists Award (EDAA) with five exceptional works that expand the limits of digital art practice.

The Emerging Digital Artists Award is Canada’s major award for critical experimentation in digital media, proudly presented by EQ Bank and Trinity Square Video. Launched in 2015, the award looks to recognize, support, and celebrate up-and-coming Canadian digital artists working exclusively on screen.

This year’s award-winning works were selected from over 175 submissions by emerging artists across Canada and celebrated for their innovative approach to digital technologies and unique perspectives on human connection within and beyond the digital realm. Each artist receives a grand prize of $5,000, as well as a one-year Production Membership to Trinity Square Video.

About the Artists

Aljumaine Gayle is a queer artist and creative technologist working at the intersections of tech, art, design, and data justice. Their artistic practice explores and subverts the othering of blackness in contemporary life. Aljumaine is a student in OCAD University’s Digital Futures program and a researcher with the University of Toronto’s Technoscience Research Unit.

Erin Konsmo is a Métis Prairie queer who grew up in central Alberta and is a member of the Métis Nation of Alberta. Their artistic practice currently focuses on fish scale art, an artform they were mentored into by Métis artist Jaime Morse. Erin is an advocate for the water, land and fish.

Katelyn Hawley is a recent graduate from OCAD University’s Expanded Animation program, originally from Halifax, Nova Scotia. Her game-based works explore how nonconventional characters move and interact with the world, blending fluid animation and surreal storytelling to leave a lasting impact on players.

Olivia Dreisinger is a disability scholar, filmmaker, and writer. Her own fluctuating abilities often dictates how she produces work—a process that regularly leads her to new and generative mediums to explore. She splits her time between Victoria and Vancouver, Canada.

Shonee is a Canadian-Costa Rican digital media artist based in Montreal who uses the immersive potential of video and speculative fiction to create artificial life. In the virtual worlds she creates, surreal creatures embody humankind’s objective and narrow misunderstanding of the lives of plants and animals in this time of ecological crisis.

Image Credits (Clockwise from top left): Aljumaine Gayle (photo: Car Martin); Erin Konsmo (photo: Melody McKiver); Katelyn Hawley; Olivia Dreisinger; and Shonee (photo: Minelly Kamemura)