Front Matter

My name is Abuk Lual, and I'm a Toronto-based emerging artist working in acrylic and oil.My body of work often explores identity, belonging, and emotion through abstract, figurative, and portrait-based work.Untitled ( 2023) is an oil painting created by swirling brushstrokes that mimic the flow of water.At the center, several abstract figures emerge with unique linear forms embodying individuality.Though they appear to blend into their surroundings, each one stands out, representing individuals who feel different or out of place.The figures are intertwined and bonded through a sense of connection and community, intertwined by invisible threads of kinship and shared struggle.This piece reflects the experience of feeling both invisible and visibly different within a crowd.It's about questioning one's belonging and the unspoken bonds that connect us all.This work is shaped by my lived experience as a Black woman navigating space within Western society.It responds to the theme of this issue, Diasporas and Cultural Institutions/Museums in the GTA, visually communicating narratives of displacement.Through layered, flowing forms, it speaks to the complexity of fitting in while existing between hyper-visibility and invisibility, of being othered while still part of a collective that transcends borders, institutions, and geography.The work invites viewers to consider: What does it mean to be seen and yet not fully recognized?To be othered, but still connected to a larger community through shared struggle?By holding space for these conversations, Untitled ( 2023) creates dialogue about identity, belonging, and the social and institutional spaces we occupy, or are denied in both cultural institutions and society at large.