A boy hangs off the Rouche, an iconic rock formation on Beirut’s coast, yelling,“Oh my God!” He is preparing to jump 50 feet into the polluted waters of the Mediterranean Sea. There are two other boys; one has a camera (the same camera that allows us to re-watch the event), and the other, exasperated, blurts out, “This guy is stupid!” As we watch the video we are witnessing a transformation. The transformation could be minor, one in which he changes from a boy to a man. Or we could be witnessing a traumatic transformation, one that can mean death, or the loss of a limb or consciousness. I constantly think about the moment one realizes their identity has transformed, like the moment one realizes that they are no longer a virgin, that someone has passed, that they are unhappy. Those moments of realization are never at the exact moment of the event, but always come after. There are no immediately noticeable consequences to most of these transformations; your life still moves forward. You still eat, drink and sleep. When you realize the transformation it is only because you have a memory; your memory makes you realize that something has changed. And the time between the moments before and after the transformation is critical and curious. If the thing that makes you transform is destructive, your transformation is destructive; if what makes you transform is productive, your transformation is productive. In either case a complete disfiguration takes place, a force that shakes up your identity to form a new one.
Amanda Boulos (she/her) is a visual artist and educator based in Tkaronto/Toronto. Boulos engages with fragmented national narratives from Palestine, Lebanon, and Canada to explore how oral histories can morph into the future of the Palestinian diaspora or shattat. She received her MFA from the University of Guelph and her BFA from York University. Boulos has exhibited in Toronto, New York, Montréal, and Halifax. She is an Assistant Professor of Painting and Drawing at OCAD University, a member of the Toronto project space the plumb, and a programmer for the Toronto Palestine Film Festival.
amandaboulos@ocadu.ca
EDUCATION
2017 Master of Fine Arts, Visual Arts, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON.
2013 Bachelor’s Degree, Fine Arts Visual Arts, York University, Toronto, ON.
EXHIBITIONS
2024 The Legend of the Palestinian Sasquatch, Centre Clark, Montreal, QC (solo)
2024 Hope Dies Last, Clint Roenisch Gallery, Toronto, ON Group Exhibition with Ali Eyal, Kristan Horton, Joseph E. Yoakum. Curated by Clint Roenisch.
2024 Holes Holding Whole; Four watches of the night; BedTime, commissioned for Landing: No.9 Gardens, Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON. Co-Produced with Erica Stocking and Ella Dawn McGeough. Curated by Sunny Kerr
2024 Days We Sang, A Space Gallery, Toronto, ON. Two-person show with Ibrahim Abusitta. Curated by Vicky Moufawad-Paul.
2024 Four watches of the night; Between 12 and 24 —BedTime, the plumb, Toronto, ON Co-Produced with Erica Stocking and Ella Dawn McGeough
2023 Will o' Wisp, Blouin Division, Toronto, ON (solo) Curated by Angel Callander.
2022 View Loser, The Bows, Calgary, AB Two-person show with Shannon Garden-Smith.
2022 Snag Against, Anna Leonowens Gallery, Halifax, NS (solo)
2022 Half Way Between the Imaginary and the Real, Wallack Galleries, Ottawa, ON. Curated by Atticus Gordon.
2021 Wheels, A Room With A View Gallery, Toronto, ON (solo)
2021 Mother Water, Galerie Nicolas Robert, Montreal, QC (solo)
2021 artist feature (A Room With A View Gallery), Papier Montreal, Montreal, QC
2021 online feature, Platform Art Inc + Arsenal Contemporary, New York, NY
2021 Chop Chop, Lollipop, the plumb, Toronto, ON
2021 She can cook a potato in her hand, and make it taste like chocolate, Humboldt Universität, Berlin. Curated by Jasmine Reimer.
2021 IWD, Embassy Culture House, London, ON
2020/21 The Sacred Vessel III, Arsenal Contemporary, New York, NY. Curated by Anaïs Castro.
2020 Pits, Seeds, the plumb, Toronto, ON
2019 Club Dynamite, Edmundo, Toronto, ON (solo)
2019 Long Winter Year 7, Volume 4, Gladstone Hotel, Toronto, ON. Curated by jes sachse and Andrew Finlay Stewart.
2018 20th Annual RBC Painting Competition, The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, Toronto, ON
2018 There’s Something in the Way, Cold Cuts Video Festival, SOVA Gallery, Dawson City, YT. Curated by Christina Battle.
2017 Pouring Horizons, Dupont Projects, Toronto, ON (solo)
2017 19th Annual RBC Painting Competition, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, ON
2017 the moving copy, Trinity Square Video, Toronto, ON
2017 YES FRILLS, Erin Stump Projects, Toronto, ON
2017 Hidden Offerings, Boarding House Gallery, Guelph, ON (solo)
2016 Split Spit Mound, Studio Sixty Six, Ottawa, ON (solo)
2016 Found Footing (film screening), Whippersnapper and the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, ON
2016 Prattle Combat, Boarding House Gallery, Guelph, ON
2016 The Third Thing, Boarding House Gallery, Guelph, ON. Curated by John Haney.
2015 Hard Rest, Boarding House Gallery, Guelph, ON
2015 UNTAPPED Artist Project Toronto, Better Living Centre, Toronto, ON
2014 Don’t Touch, Red Head Gallery, Toronto, ON
2014 Alternative Energies, TAVES Art Gallery, Toronto, ON
2013 44 Clumsy Legs, Gales Gallery, Toronto, ON (solo)
RESIDENCIES
2024 Annandale Artist Residency, Annandale, P.E.I
2024 Unpack Studio, Vedado, Cuba
2022 The Bows, Calgary, AB
2022 William and Isabel Pope Painting Residency, Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Halifax, NS
2020 Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Banff, AB
AWARDS AND GRANTS
2023 Ontario Arts Council, Visual Artists Creation Projects
2022-23 Canada Council for the Arts, Explore and Create for “Messy Mourning Practices”
2022 Canada Council for the Arts, Concept to Realization for “View Loser Exhibition at The Bows”
2022 William and Isabel Pope Painting Residency, Nova Scotia College of Art and Design
2019 Canada Council for the Arts, Explore and Create for “Paintings for My Mother”
2019 Ontario Arts Council, Visual Artists Creation Projects “Paintings for My Mother”
2019 Toronto Arts Council, Individual Visual Artist
2018 Winner, 20th Annual RBC Painting Competition
2017 Finalist, 19th Annual RBC Painting Competition
PUBLICATIONS, REVIEWS, AND WRITTEN INTERVIEWS
2023 Tammer S. El-Sheikh. “What Does Art History Have to Say About A Lebanese Sasquatch?: The Body of Decolonial Struggle In Amanda Boulos’s Art.” ARTMargins.
2022 “Images of Mothers with Breasts: A Conversation between Amanda Boulos and Jasmine Reimer.” Interview, Peripheral Review.
2021 Tatum Dooley. “Fictional Fragments From Amanda Boulos.” Canadian Art Forecast.
2021 Robert Enright. “A Future Past: Painting in Our Time.” Border Crossings Magazine.
2020 Leah Sandals and Jadda Tsui. “In the Studio with Amanda Boulos.” Canadian Art Magazine.
2019 Anna Kovler. “Off the Wall.” Canadian Art Magazine.
2018 Anna Kovler. “Ill Drones: In the Studio with Amanda Boulos.” Arsenal Contemporary.
2018 Christina Battle. “There’s something in the way.” exhibition essay for the Cold Cuts Video Festival in Dawson City, Yukon.
2018 NUT II Artist Book, An All Women’s Publication. A.I.R. Gallery in Dumbo, New York.
2017 Terence Dick. “Amanda Boulos at Richard Rhodes Dupont Projects.” Akimblog.
2017 Richard Rhodes. “Pouring Horizons.” Dupont Projects Gallery Catalogue.
2016 Vince Rozario. “Homeward Currents: Ephemera, Belonging, and the Spaces in Between.” Whippersnapper Gallery Catalogue.
2016 Daphne Attis. “Amanda Boulos’ Split Spit Mound.” Shifter Magazine.
2016 Danuta Sierhuis. “Ottawa, Meet Toronto Based Artist Amanda Boulos.” Sight Sixty Six.
2016 Meaghan Richens. “Split Spit Mound Explores Identity and Conflict.” The Charlatan.
2013 Sarah Milroy. “Vs. Separate: York University BFA Show at Graven Feather.” The Globe and Mail.
2012 Rebecca Morton. “Artists cash in at Psychopomp.” Excalibur.
2012 John Nyman. “From campus setting to Toronto galleries.” Excalibur.
2012 Mike Mannarino. “Finding beauty in chaos in 24 hours.” Excalibur.
LECTURES, ARTIST TALKS, AND PANEL DISCUSSIONS
2024 Artist Talk (in-class), The Univesity of Toronto Scarborough, Scarborough, ON
2023 Artist Talk, York University Goldfarb Summer Institute, Toronto, ON
2022 Artist Talk, “View Loser: Amanda Boulos & Shannon Garden-Smith,” The Bows, Calgary, AB
2022 Panel Discussion, “The Shape of Displacement and Resistance: Housing Crisis Across Palestine and Canada,” The Bows, Calgary, AB
2022 Artist Talk, The Fine Arts Orion Series, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC
2022 Artist Talk, Nova Scotia School of Art and Design, Halifax, NS
2021 Artist Talk, York University, Toronto, ON
2020 Artist Talk, Coptic Museum of Canada, Scarborough, ON
2020 Artist Talk, University of Regina, Regina, SK
2020 Artist Talk, OCADU, Toronto, ON
2020 Panel Discussion, “Undoing Painting” with Ghazaleh Avarzamani and Lyse Lemieux, in Partnership with Canadian Art Magazine and Art Toronto, Toronto, ON
2019 Panel Discussion, ArtWORKS Conference, Hart House Art Committee, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON
2018 Artist Talk, York University, Toronto, ON
2018 Artist Talk, Sheridan College, Oakville, ON
2017 Artist Talk, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON
2017 Artist Talk, Dupont Projects, Toronto, ON
2016 Panel Discussion, “Found Footing” with Deanna Bowen, Cora-Allan Wickcliffe, Fallon Simard, and Zinnia Naqvi, Whippersnapper Gallery, Toronto, ON
2016 Artist Talk, Foundation Studios, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON
COLLECTIONS
The RBC Collection
Equitable Bank
Private Collections
ARTIST AS CURATOR PROJECTS
2024 Ibrahim Abusitta and Malak Mattar, Fragments of Resistance, TIFF Bell Lightbox, Toronto, ON
2023 Nour Bishouty, Shepherded towards a yellowish field, TIFF Bell Lightbox, Toronto, ON
2023 Line Tracing, Shadow Chasing, the plumb, Toronto, ON
2022 Indexing Resistance, the plumb, Toronto, ON
2021 Chop Chop, Lollipop, the plumb, Toronto, ON
2020 Four Works: Leila Almawy, Kalil Haddad, Serene Husni, Rana Nazzal , the plumb, Toronto, ON
2021 An Unravelling: Samar Hejazi, the plumb, Toronto, ON
PROFESSIONAL/TEACHING EXPERIENCE
2024-ongoing Assistant Professor at Ontario College of Art and Design University
2020-ongoing Collective Member, co-founder of the plumb, Toronto, ON
2017-ongoing Volunteer Programmer, Toronto Palestine Film Festival
2020-2024 Sessional Instructor, Art and Art History, Sheridan College
2018-2024 Sessional Instructor, Visual Studies, University of Toronto
2020-2021 Sessional Instructor, Fine Art and Music, Guelph University
A special thank you to the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, and the Toronto Arts Council!