The Canadian Cultural Society of the Deaf (CCSD)

Samira Savadkoohi is a Deaf Persian artist. She graduated from the University of Tehran with an MS degree in Environmental Design. Her artworks are mostly abstract, influenced by Persian traditional and modern/contemporary art, which blatantly alter the forms of real-life entities depicted.

Instagram: @samira.savadkoohi

Art has always been a prevalent theme in Viktoriya’s life. Starting at the age of seven, she spent her childhood in evening art classes in her hometown of Vladivostok, Russia. Later, she received a college diploma in Art Design. Shortly after, Viktoriya aimed to focus on her art career but experienced many barriers and challenges as a Deaf artist in Russia, which prompted a switch of directions to earn an income. Viktoriya earned two more degrees in Interior Design and Publishing & Editing in an attempt to connect her lifelong passion for art with a career that could provide for her and her family.

In 2009, upon graduating, Viktoriya moved to Canada. Spending her initial years in Canada focusing on learning English and taking on a variety of different roles, it wasn’t until 2014 that she picked up a paintbrush again. She began painting as a way of expression and continued studying new art mediums, such as glassblowing, to challenge herself and explore new possibilities.

Viktoriya continues to trailblaze, bringing new methods of art and representation to the Deaf Community. Granted by the Ontario Art Council in 2016 and 2021 for Professional Development, Viktoriya was tutored by a professional glassblowing teacher in Ottawa and fused glass in Cumberland Viktoriya exhibited her work at the DEAF CULTURE CENTRE and at The Disability Holiday Market, Distillery District in Toronto, Ontario  in December  2022 and 2023 .

Instagram: @vika_glass_watercolour_asl

Born and raised in Regina, Saskatchewan, Torrie is a proud member of Treaty 4 and Carry The Kettle; he was raised in the Nakota clan with strong culture knowledge.

Torrie was born profoundly Deaf and learned sign language at public school. He discovered his artistic talent in grade 11 when he enrolled in an International Baccalaureate art course and started to focus on Indigenous arts. Torrie is a self-taught artist, with a focus on mixed media; he has created a diverse range of works: from plexiglass art to screen-printing to painting on drums to collages to oil paintings.

Torrie came out as Two-Spirit in his late 20’s and reclaimed this identity after being forced by his schools not to identify this way. He went travelling across the U.S. and met Two-Spirit people and the communities to learn who he is, while taking his arts to the next level of Indigenous contemporary art style. Currently working with Making Treaty 7 production for upcoming theatre project as set designer and visual artist, and currently working with a few artists for upcoming collaborations to focus on a Truth and Reconciliation commission and Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) collaboration including Two Spirit arts. Torrie continues to live in Regina where he is working in the arts. Torrie is proud to be Nakota, Two-Spirit, Deaf and an artist.

Instagram: @t_ironstar_artist

Multidisciplinary artist, interpreter, translator, cultural mediator and museum curator, Pamela finds it necessary to overlap old and new discoveries that have the power to change views and ideas. When the Deaf communities create information through art and documentation, our existence becomes concrete, known and valued. Pamela’s works have been featured at Partition/Ensemble Conference, Dyers Art Center, Edinburgh International Book Festival, Écomusée du fier monde, Quebec on the Move!, À Bâbord and Signed Music: A Symphonious Odyssey.

Instagram: @pamelawitcherarts