Workman Arts and the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) are inviting participants to a live online art making workshop focused on creative making as a form of wellbeing.

Esmond Lee will lead participants through a photography workshop, considering personal narratives and visual identities. This workshop is inspired by the Matthew Wong: Blue View exhibition which invites contemplation of quiet everyday objects and spaces. Lee is a self-taught artist who processed experiences of isolation and depression through photography and will facilitate discussions about how to photograph objects and scenes in relation to our own emotional state, pointing the lens “inwards” as a process of ongoing reflection. Beginner and experienced photographers alike, are welcome. 

Esmond Lee is an artist, researcher, and practicing architect based in Toronto’s suburbs. He explores long-term, intergenerational experiences of migration in peripheral spaces. Recent public installations include a continuous 250-foot vinyl mesh installation for Nuit Blanche Toronto and a 30-foot tall installation at Malvern Town Center for CONTACT Photography Festival.

Workman Arts is a multidisciplinary arts organization that promotes a greater understanding of mental health and addiction issues through creation and presentation. They support artists with lived experience through peer-to-peer arts education, public presentations and partnerships with the broader arts community. Being Scene is an annual staple at Workman Arts, featuring the celebrated juried showcase surveying artwork by member artists and artists with lived experience of mental health and addiction, as an in-person and online experience. The 21st Annual Being Scene Exhibition will be held in-person and online between March 31 to May 31. Lee’s workshop is part of this showcase. For more information, visit www.workmanarts.com 

This is an Accessible Event, supported with Closed Captioning. Please contact us with questions. Learn More.