The Robert McLaughlin Gallery in Oshawa is hosting an exhibition aimed at bringing together people from different cultures.
The Unity Through the Arts juried exhibition opened in mid-October with the theme of cultural diversity.
This is the third year the gallery has held the annual exhibition.
Esther Forde organized this year’s show, and said this event has always been a dream of hers.
“It shows how much more we are so alike. No matter where you’re from, we all love art. So yeah, come enjoy and meet, and make friends, and learn different things,” she said.
One of the artists was Dewe’igan Sheridan, a young indigenous man who created a collage featuring a line drawing of a woman with a hand on her cheek. It also includes the words “Every Child Matters.”
However, he forgot the ‘e’ in ‘Matters’. He said in a way, it’s a message about Indigenous people and their language.
”It was kind of a mistake on my part, but at the same time, it’s kind of like because our language was stolen and now we gotta speak this one,” said Sheridan.
He attended the exhibition with his mother, sister, and art teacher. He focused on traditional art.
Another artist was Shweta Shankar Khatri whose art was on display for the first time in Canada. She has had art shown in other countries as well.
Khatri is a self-taught artist who focuses on traditional art over digital.
Her piece “Tree of Life” depicts faces as flowers on a tree, with hands as leaves and small bees sitting on the flowers.
“All the faces I depicted as flowers and the leaves as hands, people coming together in the community, and then bees that represent the transference of ideas between different cultures and different peoples,” said Khatri.
The exhibition is on at the Robert McLaughlin Gallery until this Sunday, Nov. 2. Admission is free.