Jan Wade born Ontario, Canada
Vanessa Richards born Vancouver, Canada

Jan Wade is a Vancouver-based artist. Wade's work deploys the materials and symbols of the everyday to explore issues of post-colonial identity, ethnicity and spirituality. Drawing creative resources from her own cultural history, Wade's examination of New World black diaspora reflects upon the relations between past and present, self and collectivity, and brings voice to the staunchly political nature of those encounters. Wade’s work focuses on altars as vehicles of worship and memory, as vessels for African spirituality and to reconcile the painful past of the African Diaspora. 

Vanessa Richards- MPhil, explores interdisciplinary practises that are collaborative and socially engaged. The foundation of her work is writing, performance and music. Artist-in-Residence ‘05/’06 at Public Dreams, she developed a new regional carnival, Mountain Mardi Gras 2006, as a playground for personal and civic metamorphosis, backbone and beauty. Her poems are anthologised in the UK, Holland, Canada and the United States.