A new exhibition by Filipino artist and Ateneo Art Award 2025 recipient Jel Suarez opened at OCAD University’s flagship professional gallery, Onsite Gallery, on June 10. Jel Suarez: A bouquet of flowers must be held drew more than 120 community members to the gallery for its opening.
The exhibition is part of OCAD U’s ongoing residency program, managed by the International Programs and Collaborations Office, in partnership with the Ateneo Art Gallery at Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines.
Known for her work with salvaged books, paper and found materials, Suarez creates intricate collage-based works that explore memory, archives and material histories through a tactile, deeply personal practice.
In her new exhibition, developed during her residency at OCAD U, she has transformed long-kept but untended books from her grandmother’s once catalogued library into handmade paper, artist books and collages.
Through these reimagined fragments, Suarez presents a work intended to reconnect with an aunt living abroad. Each page holds traces of memory and care, gently placing something into her hands so that what has been kept may continue to be held across time and distance.
The reception opened with a conversation between Suarez and OCAD U President and Vice-Chancellor Ana Serrano, who introduced Jel Suarez: A bouquet of flowers must be held, developed during Suarez’s residency at OCAD U.
“This exhibition speaks powerfully to the ways artists can mobilize personal and cultural histories across spaces into objects for connection, reflection and care”, said Ryan Rice, executive director and curator, Indigenous Art at Onsite Gallery. “Jel Suarez’s work invites viewers to consider what we preserve, what we carry forward and how acts of making can bridge distance, memory and generations. We are honoured to present her work at Onsite Gallery as part of our ongoing partnership with the Ateneo Art Awards. These works hold memory that are bound into a new tactile and tangible language to become something else entirely.”
The evening also celebrated a new mural on the gallery’s exterior façade – April Hickox: Vantage Point – Passing, and the premiere screening of Vantage Point: Unfolding. The mural, on view through to the end of August, 2026, is guest curated by Associate Professor Meera Margaret Singh, chair of Photography, Printmaking & Publications at OCAD University, alongside Assistant Professor Ursula Handleigh. This is Onsite Gallery’s official entry to the CONTACT Photography Festival.
Image Credit: April Hickox, Vantage Point-Passing Series, n.d.
ABOUT ARTIST JEL SUAREZ
Jel Suarez is a self-taught visual artist based between Manila and Bacolod City. Working primarily through collage and assemblage, she collects, deconstructs, and rearranges images and materials as a way of reading and reinterpreting visual phenomena. She was an artist-in-residence at the Leipzig International Art Programme in Germany through the Goethe-Institut (2023–2024) and is a recipient of the Thirteen Artists Awards (2024) and the Ateneo Art Awards - Fernando Zóbel Prizes for Visual Art (2025).
ABOUT THE ATENEO RESIDENCY
Established in 2004 by the Ateneo Art Gallery at Ateneo De Manila University in the Philippines, the Ateneo Art Awards is one of the country’s most respected contemporary art prizes, recognizing emerging artists while supporting local and international residency opportunities.
OCAD U’s partnership with the program reflects the award’s international scope and commitment to fostering cross-cultural artistic exchange.
In 2024, OCAD U’s first Ateneo Art Award Resident, Doktor Karayom, presented No One’s At Home (Walang Tao Sa Bahay) during his Toronto residency — merging folklore, everyday life and social critique.
APRIL HICKOX MURAL AND VIDEO INSTALLATION HONOUR A LEGACY OF ENVIRONMENTAL OBSERVATION
April Hickox was a Canadian lens-based artist, educator, and independent curator whose practice spanned photography, film, video, and installation.
A longtime faculty member at OCAD U, she taught at the University for more than 30 years. Vantage Point–Passing, part of Hickox’s long-running photographic series, reflects her continued exploration of the relationship between humans and the land.
Complementing the exterior mural is a video screening ,12 min. loop titled Vantage point – Unfolding which documents her life lived on the Toronto Islands observing changes in the overlapping layers of human and natural histories. The film reflects Hickox’s dedication to the climate crisis, environment, land stewardship, and our relationship to natural elements.
Before her passing in 2025, Hickox spoke about her plans for future iterations of this video, aspects she wanted to highlight and the interconnections between frames. For this version commissioned for Onsite Gallery, her daughter, Alexa Hickox, carried out her mother’s plans, creating a video composition that reflects her desire for the future of the work.
The exhibitions at Onsite Gallery are generously supported by The Delaney Family, the Ontario Arts Council, an agency of the Government of Ontario, and the Toronto Arts Council.
Please note that Onsite Gallery hours for June 2026 are as follows: Wednesday to Friday 1 to 5 p.m.
