Associate Professor Julius Poncelet Manapul wins GOG award

The solo exhibition, Sila/Siya/Ako (They/Them/Me), featuring work by OCAD University Associate Professor Julius Poncelet Manapul, is among the recipients of an award from the Galeries Ontario/Ontario Galleries (GOG). These awards celebrate the achievements, artistic merit and excellence of institutions and professionals in the public art gallery sector.

Sila/Siya/Ako (They/Them/Me) won Exhibition of the Year: Budget Under $20,000 Monographic, which was presented during the awards ceremony on Dec. 3. The exhibition at A Space Gallery explored the impact of colonialism on identity in the Philippines.

Manapul extended sincere thanks to the exhibition team, which included curator Marissa Largo, Vicky Moufawad-Paul and Allan Kosmajac, as well as their family. Manapul is pictured above (at right) with Moufawad-Paul (at left) and Largo (centre).

Onsite Gallery, OCAD U’s flagship professional art gallery, received two awards recognizing its excellence.

Dr. Analays Álvarez Hernández received the Short Curatorial Writing Award for On Americanity & Other Experiences of Belonging, an exhibition presented by Onsite in 2023. The exhibition brought together works of eight artists to examine “Americanity,” a concept referencing a shared cultural belonging to the American continent.

Dr. Álvarez Hernández, an art historian and assistant professor at the Université de Montréal, co-curated the exhibition with OCAD U Associate Professor Emerita Colette Laliberté.

Onsite Gallery and the Inuit Art Foundation (IAF) received the Key Partnership Award for their collaboration, Up Front: Inuit Public Art at Onsite Gallery.

Since 2022, Onsite and the IAF have collaborated to showcase a series of commissioned digital murals by Inuit artists on the gallery’s external façade. The partnership recognizes the important contributions of the Inuit art sector and supports Inuit art and artists in the public realm.

Other members of the OCAD U community also received awards for their achievements.

Associate Professor Emerita Bonnie Devine received the Curatorial Writing Award for On Looking and Reading. Devine’s essay was part of Early Days: Indigenous Art from the McMichael, an exhibition catalogue that brought together more than 70 voices illuminating the Indigenous art held by the McMichael Canadian Art Collection.

The exhibition, Shelley Niro: 500 Year Itch, at the Art Gallery of Hamilton in February 2024, won the award for Exhibition of the Year: Budget Over $50,000. Niro is an OCAD U alum and honorary doctorate recipient (2019). The exhibition was curated by Melissa Bennett, Greg Hill and David W. Penney. The accompanying catalogue of the same name received the award for Art Publication.

OCAD U alums and artists Parastoo Anashahapour, Faraz Anoushahpour and Ryan Ferko received the award for Exhibition Design and Installation. The frequent collaborators won for Lovers' Wind, which was on view at the Mercer Union.

Congratulations to all the award winners!