‘Story Story’ is a group exhibition featuring 7 emerging artists and designers from the annual DesignTO Youth program. Through diverse mediums, materials, and forms, the showcased works present reflections on themes of family, identity, femininity, cross-generational traditions, and the ‘self’.

Drawing inspiration from talks and workshops from artists and designers Yassine Ben Abdallah, lanaire aderemi, Sage Paul, Grace An, and Sharine Taylor, youth were encouraged to consider nuanced approaches to sharing cultural and personal narratives.

Artists

Rachel Baek is a creative nomad and technical problem solver. She’s currently studying engineering at the University of Waterloo, learning how to apply the end-to-end design process across diverse disciplines. She’s particularly interested in digital product design, as she loves the iterative nature of building, refining, and validating digital products. However, her creative practice is always evolving, fueled by her fascination with design’s power to improve lives, spark meaningful dialogue, and push her personal growth every day.

Rubiat Fusigboye is a multidisciplinary artist and digital designer from Nigeria, holding an honours undergraduate degree in Interaction Design. As the leader of the Creative Technologies Collective on campus, Rubiat is dedicated to teaching and helping others explore the world of creative tech. In their practice, Rubiat continues to push boundaries in digital art and design, blending traditional Nigerian influences with cutting-edge technology to create unique, immersive experiences.

Namu Kim is a Korean-Canadian multidisciplinary artist based in Toronto. She currently studies Global Business Digital Arts at the University of Waterloo. She moved to Canada when she was 7 years old, and has navigated her life through the lens of her wise mother’s words, her bicultural belongingness, and vast open mindedness.

Maryam Mohamed is an Indo-Guyanese multidisciplinary artist and community worker. Her work tells stories of how history continually impacts the Indo-Guyanese community. Using traditional and new artistic media, she explores unique ways of healing from generational trauma and reclaiming an ancestral culture she yearns to reconnect with. Maryam graduated from Toronto Metropolitan University’s New Media program in 2023 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts and a Minor in History. She works and volunteers with various organizations, including the Women’s Art Association of Canada and Guyana Community House.

Vishwa Patel is an emerging interdisciplinary artist and curator based in Toronto. She is pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Art at OCAD University and works primarily in oil painting, watercolour, embroidery, printmaking, and photography. Vishwa’s current work is influenced by her Indian heritage and the environment. She explores symmetry, sacred geometry, environmental issues, and fluid cultural identities — bridging Western and Eastern philosophies. Her practice is deeply influenced by art history, drawing from textile design, Indian painting, and renaissance portraiture.

Aswani Siwakoti is a South Asian immigrant with Nepalese heritage, currently studying art therapy at the Toronto Art Therapy Institute with a focus on the intersection of art and healing. Not bound to one single medium, she writes poetry, short stories and creates visual art, continually exploring new ways to tell stories through different forms of expression. Aswani’s practice focuses on personal narratives, exploring themes of loss, self-compassion, and identity. She hopes her art invites others to find healing and empowerment through their own art making.

By integrating thoughtful concepts with technical design thinking, Toronto based designer Mal Yu creates objects that blend playfulness with emotional depth, distilling fleeting moments into impactful forms. Their approach centers on an unconventional articulation of form and function, resulting in works that redefine space with creativity and purpose, reflecting and transforming familiar aspects of material culture.

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‘DesignTO Youth: Story Story’ is organized by DesignTO in partnership with JAYU and ArtReach, and supported by the Government of Ontario, City of Toronto, and Entro. Collision Gallery provided by QuadReal.

About DesignTO

DesignTO is a non-profit arts organization celebrating 15 years of designing a sustainable, just, and joyful future. From January 24-February 2, 2025, the DesignTO Festival features 100+ free events across Toronto, showcasing hundreds of artists and designers. Known as Canada’s largest annual design festival, DesignTO has welcomed over 1 million attendees, reached 2.6 billion people through media, supported 6,500+ artists, and generated $120 million in tourism impact. “DesignTO isn’t just a festival; it’s an anti-loneliness machine,” co-founder Christina Zeidler remarked, underscoring the organization’s power to foster belonging and spark vital conversations about design’s role in shaping a better world.