Photo: Bryce Krynski

Alana Bartol is a site-responsive artist and educator whose interdisciplinary practice investigates ecological relationships, ritual, and communication across species and elements. Drawing on a lineage of water witches, Alana’s work weaves divination, dreaming, and sensory experiences to explore human-nature connections in a time of ecological crisis. Humor, playfulness, and curiosity are key elements of their practice, often used to disrupt expectations and provoke reflection. Their projects critically examine extractive industries, interspecies relationships, and the material and symbolic ties between humans and more-than-human worlds. Long-listed for Canada’s Sobey Art Award (2019, 2021), Alana has exhibited at galleries and festivals in Germany, Hong Kong, Belgium, Romania, Argentina, Turkey, Colombia, Mexico, the U.S.A., and across Canada. Based in Mohkinstsis (Calgary, Canada) on Treaty 7 territory, they are an Assistant Professor at Alberta University of the Arts. During the ARCUS Research residency, Alana will explore interspecies communication, focusing on Japanese honeybees, solitary bees, and native plants. This work reflects an interest in sensory and material processes that challenge human-centered perspectives, offering pathways to understanding ecological interconnections.
www.alanabartol.com

Joey Fauerso is an interdisciplinary artist working in painting, sculpture, installation, video and performance. Her subject matter is both personal and political, and centers on family, gender, humor, figuration and representation. Recently her work has been exhibited at the Western Exhibitions Gallery, Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, MASS MoCA, Crystal Bridges Museum, and the Drawing Center in New York. Fauerso has been the recipient of multiple grants, including a 2022 Guggenheim Fellowship, a 2020 Joan Mitchell Grant, and a 2021 Sustainable Arts Foundation grant. She has participated in multiple residencies, including Yaddo, MacDowell, and Kunstlerhaus Bethanien. Fauerso is a Professor at Texas State University and lives in San Antonio, Texas with her family. During her time at Arcus, Fauerso will work on a series of short videos incorporating animation and improvisation. she will also research the Japanese dance form Butoh and the Gutai art movement.
www.joeyfauerso.com

Daryl Li is a writer of literary fiction and nonfiction whose work focuses on themes on memory, identity, trauma, and storytelling. He is the author of two books of essays―The Inventors (Rosetta Cultures, 2023) and Tenderly, Tenderly (Atomic Bohemian, 2024)―and a book of short fiction―Minor Illusions (Querencia Press, forthcoming). His work has been longlisted for the Australian Book Review Calibre Essay Prize and Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize, and has also been a finalist in The Georgia Review Prose Prize. In 2024, he participated in the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa. During his time at ARCUS, he plans to undertake research and fieldwork for a literary book focusing on Japanese cinema. Engaging with other writers and artists, while also exploring hybrid possibilities, the project explores themes such as film history, aesthetics, otherness, memory, and translation.

Jazeela Basheer an exhibition designer and graduate of the National Institute of Design, India, has worked across theatre, museums, and galleries. Her practice spans spatial planning, installation design, photography, and publication design. In 2021, Jazeela co-founded a visual research practice Around The Sufrah that documents the stories of Muslim women in Kerala through oral narratives, memory and culinary practices. One of the projects by Around the Sufrah was a digital archive of Muslim women writings from early 20th century, supported by the Shergil-Sundaram Arts Foundation and Asia Art Archive Research grant. In 2024, she co-curated an exhibition Reading Rumours, based on the archive with the support of a research grant from the India Foundation of the Arts. During her time at ARCUS, she will be investigating the evolution of Ikat and the cultural, societal, and emotional significance of the textile situating it within the context of contemporary Japanese fashion movements.

Photo: Kato Hajime

Minwoo Lee is an artist and educator working primarily with photography and lens-based media. His practice deconstructs ocularcentrism to renegotiate its Eurocentric perception in photography and to reimagine the language of the camera outside of vision. He has exhibited at the Seoul Museum of Art, De Appel Amsterdam, Incheon Art Platform, Art Gallery of Guelph, Katzman Contemporary (Toronto), Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, with curatorial projects at InterAccess (Toronto). Lee has participated in the residency program at the Seoul Museum of Art, Paradise AIR, Incheon Art Platform, and the Banff Centre. He is also a recipient of Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, Toronto Arts Council, and Paula Riff Award from Center for Photographic Arts. During his residency, Lee will explore the relationship between photographic image and the fold as part of his ongoing research relating to mobility and immobility in migration.
www.minwlee.com