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Curated Visual Art Exhibition: PORTALS
— Curated by Mark Takeshi McGregor & Diane Hau Yu Wong
| June 21 – August 23 | Wed – Sat, 12 – 6 | Centre A: Vancouver International Centre for Contemporary Asian Art | Free |
Our QAF 2025 theme is fully realized in this special exhibition partnership with Centre A: Vancouver International Centre for Contemporary Asian Art. Curated by Diane Hau Yu Wong and Mark Takeshi McGregor, this group exhibition explores “portals” as catalysts for change—points of departure that invite reflection on identity, migration, and the possibilities of reimagined worlds via the works of six Vancouver artists: Arkah, Evan Matchett-Wong, Sena Cleave, Miles Saraswat, Christian Yves Jones, and Naomi Maya Leung 梁珮恩. As anti-trans, anti-queer and anti-immigrant rhetoric intensifies across the world, Portals responds to our increasingly dangerous political landscape while asking us to envision futures grounded in resilience, memory, and hope.
Portals runs from June 21 to August 23, 2025, with our ArtParty! opening reception on Saturday, June 21 from 5 – 8pm, with artists in attendance – and special guest DJ OShow!
About the Artists
Arkah (they/them) is a migrant from Delhi, India, living on stolen lands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, and səlilwətaɬ peoples. They are a visual artist and writer, trying to map spirit as a method of archival. By creating an opening into other possible worlds, Arkah is seeking answers. How do we trudge on, despite uncertainty? When visiting home, they work as an art teacher and muralist.
Sena Cleave (she/they) is an artist exploring ideas of work, reciprocity, and ongoing change. Their sculptural practice draws on their family history of farming, experiences working day jobs, and participation in domestic labour and care. Often using materials found in these settings, they investigate alternative methods of support and sustenance. Cleave lives in the unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, and səlilwətaɬ Nations, and was raised between Snuneymuxw and Snaw’naw’as territories and Osaka, Japan.
Christian Yves Jones (he/him) is a Philippine-born, New Zealand-raised filmmaker and video artist based in Vancouver, BC. He graduated with a Bachelor of Communication Studies from Auckland University of Technology (New Zealand), where he was awarded a Vice Chancellor’s Scholarship. His work spans a wide range of formats, including music videos, short films, video art films, and live television broadcasts. Christian’s creative practice often explores stories from the LGBTQ+ community and the Asian diaspora in the West.
Naomi Maya Leung 梁珮恩 (they/them) is a Han Cantonese settler, climate justice education facilitator and organizer, and mixed media artist. Naomi desires to create anti-colonial spaces centering trans and queer diaspora to process intergenerational trauma, grief, and to co-create possibilities and programming for hope and healing. Naomi studies BSc Global Resource Systems and Psychology, integrating climate change studies with global health, climate emotions, and the Asian diaspora.
Evan Matchett-Wong (they/them) is a self-taught hand embroidery artist from Edmonton in Treaty 6 Territory in Canada, now living in Vancouver on the unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples. They are of Chinese (Han), Indigenous (Dene), and Irish descent. They are Two-Spirit and a member of Cold Lake First Nations. They have been doing hand embroidery since 2014, and have brought the use of watercolours back into their artistic practice.
Miles Saraswat (he/him) is an artist based in Vancouver, Canada. His work explores themes of South-Asian spiritualism and the diaspora experience in Canada. Miles is committed to investigating how teachings from Hinduism can be relearned and acted upon through the diasporic lens, creating an understanding through his art impacted by his experience as a queer person. His work often works with imagery of the sun, bodies, environmental change, traditional South-Asian objects, and sunflowers.
Night Owl: Erica Roozendaal, accordion
| Sunday, June 8 @ 7pm | SUM gallery | Pay-What-You-Wish |
We’re thrilled to present the QAF debut of Dutch accordionist Erica Roozendaal. Visiting us from the Hague, Roozendaal shares an intimate program at SUM gallery that includes music by the iconic Pauline Olivieros, plus Erica’s own autobiographical showpiece, Night Owl. This beautiful and moving performance subtly addresses the theme of abuse and growing up in an unsafe environment. Erica Roozendaal—performer, visual artist, and accordionist—created the script and performs the monologue in a restrained, captivating manner while alternating with playing the accordion. Presented in partnership with Vancouver InterCultural Orchestra.
About Erica Roozendaal
Within the versatility of all art forms, Erica Roozendaal sees herself primarily as a “storyteller”: expressing a story, an experience or emotion, using the medium that best serves that purpose. As a classically trained accordionist, music is her biggest focus and always plays a role on stage, though she is equally at home in the worlds of visual art and theatre.
As a musician, Erica enjoys collaborating with composers, which has resulted in dozens of new solo pieces and chamber music works. After studying classical music, she further developed in folk and improvised music. Curiosity about (still) unknown music, culture, history, brings a broad musical palette, which she also likes to interconnect. So she prefers to play concerts in which the common thread is a theme or a story, with music from all sorts of angles and eras. In 2016, she founded Roadrunner, an ensemble that sits between contemporary, folk and improvised music with an emphasis on her own written work. Every year they organize the Roadrunner Academy week, a week for young composers concluding with a concert featuring the new pieces.
In addition to being a performing artist, Erica has been affiliated with the Royal Conservatory of Music in The Hague since 2020. Among other things, she teaches accordion within PI: a program designed specifically for preschoolers, and Young KC, a preliminary program for children ages 6 to 10. Empathizing with young children’s experiences, teaching aurally, stimulating curiosity and creativity: these are the key elements of her teaching practice.
Plans are well underway for Queer Arts Festival 2025: PORTALS. The full festival line-up will be announced very soon, but in the meantime, we’re excited to share one of our guest artists: accordionist and visual artist Erica Roozendaal (Netherlands), who will present her one-person show, NACHTUIL / Night Owl, in partnership with Vancouver Intercultural Orchestra.
NACHTUIL / Night Owl
Daan is thirty years old, six years old, ten, fifteen… All at the same time.
Daan lives in an ordinary village. In an ordinary house with a father and a mother. She goes to public school, enjoys going to gym and music lessons. And her favorite activity is making beautiful things with her imagination; music, drawings or stories.
All sorts of things happen that she can’t explain. For example, she feels all kinds of things she doesn’t want to feel, very strange, but these feelings sometimes come out of the blue. As if someone else enters her body and takes over control! At times she gets the blame for things that happen, that she has nothing to do with. And sleeping… seems impossible, because at night she hears all kinds of voices that just never shut up. Only when she dares to really listen to what she actually hears in the night does she find out why she just won’t sleep and why so many unexplainable things happen.
Night owl is a beautiful and moving performance for ages ten and up that subtly addresses the theme of incest and growing up in an unsafe environment. Erica Roozendaal—performer, visual artist, and accordionist—wrote the script and performs the monologue in a restrained, captivating manner while alternating with playing the accordion.
Submissions are NOW OPEN for the 2025 QAF Community Art Show!
Submissions are OPEN for our QAF Community Exhibition, held at SUM gallery this summer!
We’re inviting artists in our local Queer communities to contribute works that explore our 2025 festival theme, “Portals” – though all submitted works will be considered. We are delighted to be hosting the exhibition at QAF headquarters SUM gallery in the Sun Wah Building in Chinatown, from June 13 – June 28, 2025.
We are considering 2-D visual works, sculpture, digital art, and interdisciplinary works for submission.
Submission deadline: April 30, 2025
Submissions are accepted via email at submissions@queerartsfestival.com
Submission Checklist:
Submissions for the QAF Community Art Show must include:
- Artist name and preferred email address for contacting.
- Digital images of artworks (individual files, jpgs, or links to a website or upload are best.)
- Artwork information for each piece (title, medium, year, dimensions, and price if applicable).
Additional information that is helpful but not required:
- Artist biography.
- Artist statement.
- Resume/cv.
- Headshot.
- Links/social media.
All works must be installation-ready (ie, framed, hanging brackets, wires, etc). QAF will be onsite for installation, but whenever possible Artist’s are encouraged to help!
