Oneness brings together a collective body of works that speak to artistic individuality and personal experience in an effort to honour both similarities and differences. Participating artists include the 2022 graduates from the Art and Art History Program at the University of Toronto Mississauga and Sheridan College. Presented in this exhibition is a variety of their works produced in 2021, concerned with exploring identity and the self in relation to others. Works include paintings, drawings, digital illustrations, prints, installations and sculptures, videos, animation, mixed media works, as well as photography.

The exhibition highlights the artist's unique perspective as they traverse their own lives. This exhibition displays art that explores different aspects of life. Each artwork falls under different themes including personal and collective histories, cultural and familial examinations, processing emotions, and mortality. Personal and collective histories pertain to issues of identity, belonging, and life experiences, positive and negative. Cultural and familial examinations offer a glimpse into the pride and pressures of upholding cultural heritage. Processing emotions addresses how the individual understands the world and demonstrates ways one may cope with mental health and trauma. Within mortality the artists grapple with the subject matter of death and its inevitability. These themes are represented through the symbolism of transit to further demonstrate that these experiences, conveyed through the artworks, are part of one's journey through life.

The featured artists responded to a call for submissions, resulting in a unique exhibition that captures the similarities and differences in both personal and collective experiences during a time of uncertainty and upheaval. COVID-19 has forced all of us to look both inward and outward—to consider our surroundings and adapt everyday rituals and practices. In order to provide a safe and engaging experience for participants and the public, the 20 artists are featured in an online exhibition accompanied by their respective artist statements that illuminate the motivations behind each creation. As this exhibition shows the many different facets of life and individual experiences, viewers may realise the complexities of identity and the multitude of perspectives that are facilitated within the concept of oneness.

This theme encompasses personal and shared experiences. This includes representations of the self and of personal memories, as well as captured visualisations of places in time. Moreover, it examines collective and relatable experiences.

The works within Cultural/Familial Examinations share the experiences of people from different cultures and marginalised groups. Some works portray the clashes between the Western and the non-Western, upholding family values and traditions, and constant code switching in languages, while others show the treatment of marginalised bodies.

The works that fall under this theme all include elements of understanding one's emotions. There are works that deal with the process of accepting trauma, some that explore ways to heal from anxieties and also artworks that express emotions of joy and a state of calm.

This exhibition also has works that delve into mortality. This includes explorations of death and its inevitability. Both a tragedy and a necessary ecological process, death is considered a monumental event for the living in which time feels like it’s at a standstill, and yet it presses onward.

Oneness will launch with a virtual opening event, Wednesday, April 13, 6–7:30pm EST, with artist talks and speeches from students and faculty. Please register to attend on Eventbrite.

For updates, sneak peeks, artist chats and more, follow @oneness.exhibition.