CONTENTS:: Introduction Sara Andrea Borghi Lauthika Verma Serena Kobayashi-Lebel Par Nair Sara Okello Emily Zou Installation Contacts Page 1 Page 2 Page 11 Page 16 Page 22 Page 26 Page 31 Page 55 Page 60

INTRODUCTION: Perspective is often something we hold on to as a part of our conditioning. Who we are, what we are becoming, what we love and what we hate, all stem from how we perceive the exterior. Sara Andrea Borghi, Lauthika De, Serena Kobayashi-LeBel, Par Nair, Sarah Okello, Emily Zou 1 HOW I SEE YOU is an exhibit put together by Propeller Gallery celebrating the recent graduates who have been Sponsored Members of Propeller over the past year. Collectively the artists are interested in untold stories, whether that be their own, their families, their cultures or those of a stranger, each artist shares how they perceive the world through art. Individuals behind the scenes now come to the surface to showcase “what meets their eye” through a display of artworks by six local Toronto grads:

2 Sara Andrea was born in Busto Arsizio, Italy. Her love for the arts started when she was a child. One of her favorite activities was doing decoupage with her mom and making crafts using Das (modeling clay) during the weekend. After attending art school, she studied at Accademia Albertina di Belle Arti in Turin and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Painting. When she was 22, Sara traveled to Canada and was fascinated by its cultural diversity. After graduating from Toronto college in Arts Management she exhibited her artworks in different galleries and participated in various art projects. What we see is influenced by what we feel and what we feel is influenced by what we see. Humans’ perception of things is related to the eyes and the heart, what our mind sees, and what our body feels. I dedicate this exhibition to my dad who passed away last September. After his death, I met many people who went across his path and, it happily surprised me to know the same description that everyone gave to him: The Good Gaint SARA ANDREA BORGHI

3 My dad was one of the most important and essential people in my life. He was my friend of adventures, the talented chef of the house, and a huge supporter. He left me with many good memories, plenty of light colors, and vibrant shapes. The eyes see and the heart speaks. My paintings are the reflection of my inner self, the struggle between Id and Ego that is vented through energetic brushstrokes, vivid colors, and figures that evoke memories, emotions, and a sense of freedom. I use my rationality to create a structural base for my art, but I let spontaneity take over and develop the base into its true art form. Rationality and instinct play a match to find equilibrium, the perfect balance between the inner and external Ego, the peace among one’s mind and body.

4 INTO THE WATER Acrylic on Canvas 40 x 30" 07/11/2022

5 HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD Acrylic on Canvas 24 x 30 " 26/11/2022

6 IL GIGANTE BUONO | THE GOOD GIANT Acrylic on Canvas 24 x 36" 19/11/2022

7 IL GIGANTE BUONO | THE GOOD GIANT I have many memories of my dad. We liked going on trips and seeing different places together. This portrait represents my dad in one of our tours back home in Italy. He was relaxing on the grass, on a blanket that we put on the ground. He was happy because he found a nice spot to bring his daughter to. He liked to make me happy, and always tried to make my days special. Looking for freedom, I let my unconscious self take over my mind and control my body. That’s where the abstraction derives. The figures disappear in a swirl of colors and energetic brushes destroy what remains of that memory.

8 DADDY WALKS Acrylic on Canvas 30 x 40" 31/08/2021

9 DADDY WALKS Daddy Walks is a message of hope, the rain after a drought period, the strong light beam that filters through the crack in a door inside a dark room. When an old foe that you believed you’d never see again returns, your days get colored black, and the fears of loss, failure, and worries about an unstable future suffocate you so hard that you can not see the light shining beside you. When my dad got sick again a cold iceberg pierced my heart. In the grip of the pandemic, when the hospitals don’t allow you to see their patients, the inability to act and the uncertainty of what will be next aroused your feelings of dejection and defeat. Will I see him again? I liked to remember my father in those days when we were visiting Turin together. Long walks through the city looking for food and entertainment. In my eyes, he was a strong man who fought for his life until the end with the desire to see his daughters grow up and be sure they wouldn’t miss anything. With Daddy Walks, I experimented with a new way of painting. I felt the need to use light colors for the first time, they relaxed me. I spread the color and caressed the canvas like a precious treasure. Sometimes I used the brushes, sometimes my hands. It made me feel closer to the surface and created a strong connection. It is a therapy for happiness and peace, I can see the light after the tunnel.

10 FALLS Acrylic on Canvas 30 x 40" 02/12/2022

11 LAUTHIKA DE Lauthika De, a 28 year old from New Delhi, India, has been exploring cultures in Toronto, Ontario for seven years now. A mixed media artist currently striving to find herself through experimentation & mixed channels of expression. Her personal goal through her journey has been to compile stories, conversations, and experiences in the most raw and philosophical way possible. There is always an underlying question of identity and individuality that reflects in her work. With that, her zeal to create a community of likeminded individuals and healing through art shapes her perspective on souls she creates with.

12 Digital Photography 20 x 14" FOREVER CHAMELLION

13 FOREVER CHAMELLION Self-portrait = self-image captured during times of self doubt, self hatred and self loathing A glance at “there is more than what meets my own eyes”

14 Digital Photography 10 x 20" MAAA

15 MAAA Temporary absence can often turn into permanent absence. Finally being able to process old emotions and memories. The diptych represents a life-long absence that sometimes a single parent has to fill. This piece is dedicated to my parents. A salute to my mother for everything she is and has been. A reminder that the past molds us but we still hold the power to sculpt ourselves. A dedication to my father, that you aren’t forgotten and never will be.

16 SERENA KOBAYASHI-LEBEL Kobayashi-LeBel graduated with Honours from York Universities Bachelor of Fine Arts program in 2020. Throughout their undergrad Kobayashi-LeBel participated in many group shows and had their first solo exhibition HUMAN;NATURE. Most recently, they curated the TwentySomething group exhibition with Propeller Art Gallery and participated in the Toronto Outdoor Art Fair in July of 2022. Based in Toronto, Serena Kobayashi-LeBel is an figurative queer artist whose paintings investigate the connection between our natural instincts and social upbringing. Passionate about capturing the fragility and resilience of today’s youth who face an increasingly uncertain future, she hybridises natural imagery and the human body to represent a subject's unique life experiences. What inspires her work most is the complex and dynamic relationships young people have with themselves as they learn to navigate their social environment and define their identity. Her style captures a delicate blend of vulnerability and ferality, favouring flowering imagery that charms the viewer only to reward them with a grotesque twist. At the core of her work, she creates strikingly queer pieces that offer insight into the complex emotions and struggles experienced by young adults in a rapidly decaying world.

17 I SEE IT NOW Oil on Panel 12 x 12"

18 Oil on Panel 14 x 10" AND I WON'T FEEL

19 AS THE ROSES BLOOM Oil on Panel 12 x 12"

20 AM I THE ONLY ONE LOOKING? Oil and Acrylic Gouache on Panel 40 x 60"

21 AM I THE ONLY ONE LOOKING? Am I The Only One Looking is loosely inspired by the feeling of being watched by people who are judging you based on your appearance, and how that can lead a lot of people to feel trapped within outside societal pressures. I say ‘loosely inspired’ because in the creation of this piece, I wanted to actually challenge where the judgement comes from. Because I have found that yes, there will always be this voice in your head saying that You Will Never Be Good Enough and that You Will Never Fit In, and that’s terrifying. But at the end of the day, that voice in your head is only a part of you, and only you have the power to tell it to shut up and allow yourself to live your life as the fullest version of yourself. This is why I painted the models eyes on each of the leaves: to represent how sometimes you are the only thing that is holding you back.

hybrid cultures and fragmented realities of migrants. She addresses the transformations and translations of diasporic bodies by reworking and retouching her mother’s passport photograph through oil painting in her series titled, “a mother”. “Letters of haunting” is a way for Par to write labor and care-filled letters to her mother on her mother’s silk saree through hand embroidery. These are letters of love, of frustration, of longing, and of reaching. The presence of the hand in the labor intensive process of hand embroidery implies how we may touch or not touch our mothers and grandmothers. The formal qualities of this work refers to themes of hybridity, double consciousness, fragmentation, longing, intergenerational translations, and knowledge transmissions. Par has recently acquired her Master’s in Interdisciplinary Art, Media and Design from OCAD University. This year her works were shown at Mayten’s Gallery (Toronto), Project Casa (Montreal), The Public Gallery (Toronto) and Neilson Creative Centre (Etobicoke). Par is the recipient of the Ontario Graduate Scholarship (2021- 22), The Career Launcher Prize (2022) and Propeller Gallery’s Emerging Artist Award (2020). Par’s work celebrates the often invisible, misrepresented, and stereotyped voices and stories of Indian women. 22 PAR NAIR Par Nair (she/her) is an Indian born interdisciplinary artist and researcher who lives and makes in the GTA. Her practice which centers oil paintings, embroidery, installation, performative work and creative writing focus on dual identities,

23 Oil on Panel (Installation, Series of 12) 8 x 6" A MOTHER (Series)

24 hand embroidery on mother's saree 210 x 45" (right) LETTERS OF HAUNTING (Series) hand embroidery on mother's saree 210 x 45" (left)

25 LETTERS OF HAUNTING “Letters of haunting” is a way for Par to write labor and care-filled letters to her mother on her mother’s silk sarees through hand embroidery. These are letters of love, of frustration, of longing, and of reaching. The presence of the hand in the labor-intensive process of hand embroidery implies how we may touch or not touch our mothers and grandmothers. The formal qualities of this work refers to themes of hybridity, double consciousness, fragmentation, longing, intergenerational translations, and knowledge transmissions.

26 SARAH OKELLO Sarah Okello is a Persian Adage that translates to This Too Shall Pass. The personal view of someone is often influenced with the way we view ourselves and our own lives. From our own shores another may appear far out in the way they are navigating their own journey. In the adage the king requested for something that when he was sad it would make him happy and when he was happy it would make him sad. A piece of comfort for the loss that he had experienced in life. This ring that was inscribed with این نیز بگذرد was by a man who was advised the phrase and came to understand it as he went on his own life. When he gave the ring to the king he offered a piece of his understanding of life. He offered a way of seeing what he experienced and the act of being seen with an abundant amount of space to feel the lows and highs in any moment of his life. My practice began through my curiosity of film cameras and the journey to the final shot. What I choose to capture and share are moments on my personal journey that are parts of the shared human experience. I’m a multidisciplinary artist that expresses my wonders of the many ways we connect through the art I create.

27 این نیز بگذرد Film Photography 30 x 40"

28 این نیز بگذر This piece is about the comfort of acknowledging the pain that we feel in the midst of the action of progress and expression of life. In the grey of the Persian adage این نیز بگذرد (This Too Shall Pass) lives this sentiment. In the adage the story starts in a desert where a young dervish man surviving is looking for food and shelter for the night. The villager he inquired for a place of rest and replenishment couldn’t provide for him within himself but with the young dervish man being in the obviousness of his suffering he advised him to go see an old man named Shakir. In Shakir he found more than safety he found a new way of understanding himself and connecting to others. The story goes that in different phases of the dervish mans life he would return to Shakir who would always have this to say, “For This, Too, Shall Pass”. In Shakir’s wealth and struggle that is what he would say and the dervish man would try to understand what the old man meant in all the phases of his life. Time passed and Shakir did too. The dervish went back home to Persia (present day Iran) where he travelled to Maranjab Desert in hopes of gifting Shakir a golden ring with gorgeous rubies...but he had passed. The king of Persia had been in deep grief because his wife and first-born son died in childbirth. Night after night trying to make sense of the tragedy that had happened to him he cried endlessly. The king requested of his vizier (a high executive officer of various Muslim countries) a ring with an inscription that when he was happy he would feel sad and when sad he’d feel happy.

29 The now old dervish man sent the king of Persia a golden ring with tiny Indian rubies. With tears in his eyes and new found hope he read the inscription “this too shall pass”. Theres a lot to unpack in this adage the connection I find so deeply of value is the hope that allows us to feel the grief, the despair, the anger, the lack of understanding, the abandonment and still be comforted with the truth that we can move forward. With moving forward always being a possibility, always being an option our future doesn’t have to replicate the suffering of our past or present. With this hope in mind I hold Zhina Mahsa Amini dear. A 22 year old Kurdish girl who died after trauma and violence was inflicted on her by the Gasht-e-Ershad (“guidance patrol”) in Iran for wearing an “improper hijab”. Zhina is her Kurdish name because Kurdish names are discriminated against in Iran, Mahsa was the name given to her. In Iran Women are restricted by several social and government in forced laws to have permission to; travel, get married, use their finances and what they can or can’t do with their own bodies. It is illegal for women to dance or sing in public. Existing is a threat to the life that they have a right to live. The objective of the Iranian Diaspora collective(@iraniandiasporacollective) is to raise awareness and amplify the voices in Iran. 60% of the Iranian population is under 30 and they have a vibrant creative culture that need not be overshadowed or disregarded.

30 All proceeds from the purchasing of this piece will be donated to the Iranian Diaspora Collective. Due to the sanctions in Iran it’s hard to give money but there are ways to donate to raise awareness of what’s happening. You can also sign a petition that is helping to raise awareness to global powers to make a change. You are able to donate here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/iraniandiasporacollective You can sign this petition https://www.change.org/p/stop-execution-ofiranian-protesters To stop execution of Iranian protestors. With Kindness, Sarah

31 EMILY ZOU Emily Zou is a multidisciplinary artist who works primarily with drawing and painting media and found materials. She studied Fine Art at DJCAD in Scotland and is a BFA graduate from OCAD University’s Drawing & Painting program. In recent years, Emily has exhibited. her work with Gallery 1313, John B. Aird Gallery, Propeller Art Gallery, Steps Public Art, Florence Contemporary Gallery, Toronto Outdoor Art Fair, Bloom Festival, Mackenzie Investments, and Art & Mindfulness (a yearlong exhibition held at the University of Toronto to raise awareness for mental health). In a visual language that ranges from detailed surrealist illustrations, tableaus of candid characters, colourful dreams, and the obsessive intertwining of hoarded materials, all of Emily’s multi-stylistic works reflect a state of mind punctuated by emotional chaos and melancholy. The art object is born from obsessive labour to channel anxious energy into the material. In an age where mental illness and mental health awareness continues to rise, Emily hopes her work can contribute to this conversation and provide a space for dialogue, connection, and understanding.

3 2 DARK MAT T E R m i x e d m e d i a 3 6 x 3 6 " 2 0 2 0 - 2 0 2 2

33 DARK MATTER This series (“Dark Matter”) contains sculptural pieces which are made from an amalgamation of materials around me. These materials are sometimes discarded scraps I find on the street or in the trash at work, but mostly they are objects that have taken up space within my apartment. Each sculpture is a unique portrait of my emotional self where I obsessively wound, intertwined, and tied for hundreds of hours, releasing this energy into the material.

m i x e d m e d i a 3 4 x 3 4 " 2 0 2 0 - 2 0 2 1 3 4 P O RTAL S

35 WHERE YOU ARE PLANTED mixed media 72 x 36" 2022

36 DAW FOR A THIRSTING SOUL Graphite on rice paper 36.75 x 24.75" 2018 Framed

37 A PSYCHOSOCIOLOGICAL DIARY These small drawings capture moments in time, combining the physical world around me with the emotional world within me. I began creating these small drawings when I experienced depression for the first time, and so began a series that has continued for the past five years. They include characters such as myself and the people around me.

38 A GROWING SWEETNESS Ink pen, pastel, pencil crayon 3.5 x 2.5" 2019 - 2020 Framed

39 STUDIO MIND MADNESS Ink pen, pastel, pencil crayon 3.5 x 2.5" 2019 - 2020 Framed

40 HANG IN THERE AND DANCE WHERE YOU ARE Ink pen, pastel, pencil crayon 3.5 x 2.5" 2019 - 2023 Framed

41 MOVIE NIGHT Ink pen, pastel, pencil crayon 3.5 x 2.5" 2019 - 2020 Framed

42 TOWER BUILDING CAFE BLUES Ink pen, pastel, pencil crayon 3.5 x 2.4" 2019 - 2020 Framed

43 VULNERABILITY Ink pen, pastel, pencil crayon 3.5 x 2.5" 2019 - 2020 Framed

44 NAIVE Ink pen, pastel, pencil crayon 3.5 x 2.25" 2019 - 2020 Framed

45 PACIFIERS Ink pen, pastel, pencil crayon 3.5 x 2.3" 2019 - 2020 Framed

46 OPENING Ink pen, pastel, pencil crayon 3.4 x 2.25" 2019 - 2020 Framed

47 SAFEKEEPING Ink pen, pastel, pencil crayon 3.5 x 2.3" 2019 - 2020 Framed

48 A CONSTANT COMPANION Ink pen, pastel, pencil crayon 3.5 x 2.3" 2019 - 2020 Framed