Artists

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Mohamed Ben Soltane

Mohamed Ben Soltane is a Tunisian visual artist and curator based in Montreal. His work combines painting, photography, mosaic and installation. It is rooted in cultural studies, postcolonial critical thought, and a reflection on memory, justice and interculturality. His artistic practice evolves from a documentary gaze focused on the walls of Tunis (Les murs de Tunis parlent, 2004–2009) toward a dreamlike pictorial universe inhabited by hybrid figures, where color becomes a form of enchanted resistance.

He has exhibited his work in Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Spain, France, Germany, Italy, the USA, Canada and elsewhere.

Since settling in Montreal in 2022, he has actively pursued both his artistic and curatorial practice by building bridges between cultural scenes of the North and the South. He develops solo exhibitions (Soul Fantasy, EDEN) and initiates collaborative projects such as the Cross Residencies Montreal + Tunis (Galerie B-312, Conseil des arts de Montréal), which bring into dialogue artistic practices from diverse contexts. His current work explores notions of decentering, memory, and creation as a transcendental gesture, in a spirit of openness, transmission and the re-enchantment of the world.

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Asmae Laraqui

Asmae Laraqui is a multidisciplinary visual artist born in Morocco and based in Montreal. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Visual Arts from Concordia University. Her work has been presented in solo and group exhibitions in Canada and Portugal, affirming her presence on the contemporary art scene.

In 2020, she received the Dem’Art grant from the Conseil des arts de Montréal, in collaboration with Circa art actuel, through which her work was presented at Popop Galerie. Later, in 2023, she was awarded a research and experimentation grant from the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec (CALQ), in partnership with the Vallée-du-Richelieu Regional County Municipality.

Her artistic journey has also led her to participate in several prestigious creative residencies, including Loulé Criativo and Officina de Barro in Portugal (2020), as well as Keramik at the Guldagergaard International Ceramic Research Center in Denmark (2024). She was also selected to take part in the second edition (2026) of the ceramic sculpture residency organized by TOPO and Art’Up Résidences at Rocabella in Toulon, France. Her works have been presented in various galleries, reflecting the singularity of her artistic approach.

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Jianbing Nie

Jianbing Nie, born in China, currently lives and works in Canada. He holds a DNSAP degree from the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts de Paris and a PhD in art studies and practices from UQAM. He currently teaches at the Université de Montréal and at UQAM. He regularly exhibits in Canada, the United States, China and elsewhere.

In his artistic practice, shaped by multiple cultures, Jianbing Nie connects the aesthetic, political and cultural dimensions carried by images. Through the dialogue and collision between images, he creates tension between Eastern and Western visual experiences, and seeks to express the harmonious and/or antagonistic relationships between East and West, tradition and modernity, hope and reality.

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Leila Zelli

Born in Tehran (Iran), Leila Zelli lives and works in Montreal. She holds a Master’s degree (2020) and a Bachelor’s degree (2016) in Visual and Media Arts from UQAM. She is interested in the relationships we maintain with ideas of the “other” and the “elsewhere,” and more specifically within this geopolitical space often referred to by the debatable term “Middle East.” She creates site-specific digital installations using images, videos and texts often gathered from the internet and social media. The result is visual and sound experiences that prompt reflection on the state of the world, on our relationship to the Other, and on the real impact of our actions on humanity.

Her work has been presented, among others, at the Musée d’art de Joliette (permanent exhibition), the Toronto Biennial of Art (2024), the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (Arts of the One World Collection), Dazibao (2023), Galerie Pierre-François Ouellette (2023–2021), Galerie Bradley Ertaskiran (2020), the Conseil des arts de Montréal (2019–2020), and Galerie de l’UQAM (2024, 2020, 2019, 2015).