Join us for a bright exhibition – Drawing Circles by Anastasia Meicholas
August 7th – Sept 4th
Artscape Youngplace – 180 Shaw Street, Toronto, 2nd Floor Hallway Galleries

The curatorial theme of my show is circles: circles symbolize equality, unity and harmony. I am constantly trying to find balance in my life, work and in my art. I’ve always used circles in my art or started a piece with just a dot on the page; there is no better symbol of completeness than a circle. The endless line symbolizes eternity and unity, and is a representation of my continuous search for
understanding and the evolution of a piece. A circle represents evolution as a process of transformation from beginning to end, as a circle has no beginning and no end.

A number of the pieces in my show also speak to my lived-experience. Growing up in the Bahamas was very difficult and restrictive. I realized early on that it was going to be impossible for me to be the person who I really was and wanted to be. I was surrounded by intolerance and closed-minded individuals. This made it very clear to me that I was never going to be accepted as an individual, not for the type of art I was making, and definitely not for my sexuality. My society and my home life were both holding me back.  My father was a mentally abusive alcoholic who was at times also physically abusive.

I left the Bahamas in 2004, never to look back, but to move forward and start living and growing into the person I needed to be. It has taken me all this time struggling with self doubt but I continue to push to be the woman, mother, partner and artist that I am today.

Opening Receptions:
August 18th – 3:30 – 5:45PM
August 23rd – 3:30 – 5:45PM