Bria Fernandes: Things Left Unsaid
September 11 - October 31, 2025
AFFILIATED EVENTS:
Opening reception: Thursday, September 11, 4:00 - 6:00 pm
Conversation with artists Bria Fernandes and Ekene Maduka: Thursday, October 9 at 10:00 am
Winnipeg-based artist Bria Fernandes creates introspective paintings that explore her social, cultural, and personal experiences as a Black woman in Canada. By revisiting specific memories, Fernandes considers complex thoughts and feelings such as self-doubt, anxiety and displacement that emerge from the specificity of racialized and diasporic communities. Her large-scale tableaus are abundant with a cast of often expressionless figures tethered to one another and to symbolic objects and animals. The result are layered narratives that speak to the intricacies and intersections of individual and collective lived experiences within diasporic communities.
The exhibition will include an interpretive text by Winnipeg artist Ekene Maduka and a public conversation between Fernandes and Maduka.
Image: Bria Fernandes, Ain’t Misbehavin’, 2024, oil and acrylic on canvas, 68” x 81”. Collection of The Esplanade Arts and Heritage Centre, City of Medicine Hat.
ABOUT BRIA FERNANDES
Bria Fernandes is a Canadian-born figurative painter whose art delves into themes of identity, vulnerability, and belonging, using silence, omission, and exclusion as tools to depict oppression and introspection. Through symbolic imagery and passive body postures, she captures moments of self-reflection, focusing on marginalized communities' unseen emotions and unspoken truths. Working primarily with oil paint and acrylics, Fernandes incorporates symbolic forms that reflect her personal and cultural narratives. Her intricate works create emotionally resonant spaces, inviting viewers to share these moments of contemplation and fostering dialogue about identity, anxiety, and displacement. Born in Ottawa, Fernandes now resides in Winnipeg. She has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Alberta University of the Arts. Fernandes’ art has been shown in the following exhibitions this year: The Feminine Lived Experience at The Esplanade Arts and Heritage Centre (Medicine Hat, AB), UPRISE 2025: The Art of Resistance at The Untitled Space (New York City), Black History Month Showcase with Kanbi Projects via Artsy (online), and Threads of Kin and Belonging at the Winnipeg Art Gallery–Qaumajuq (Winnipeg).
EXHIBITION HOURS
Monday - Friday between 12:00 and 4:00 pm from September 11 until October 31, 2025. Closed September 30 and October 13.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Gallery 1C03 is located on Treaty One Territory and the National Homeland of the Red River Métis, in Wiiniibak, Manido Abi. We acknowledge these are the ancestral lands of the Anishinaabeg, Anisininew, Ininiwak/Nehethowuk, Oceti Sakowin/Dakota Oyate, and Michif (Métis) Peoples. This territory is also a place of significance for the Denesuline and the Inuit, some of whom have been living here for generations. We acknowledge that our water is sourced from Shoal Lake 40 First Nation (Shoal Lake 39 is also impacted) in Treaty Three Territory, and that most of our hydro-electricity comes from Treaty Five Territory in northern Manitoba. Through the land, we recognize our connection and commitment to working with the Red River Métis, all First Nations Peoples across Turtle Island, and the Inuit of Canada.
GETTING HERE AND ACCESSIBILITY
Maps of The University of Winnipeg campus, including accessibility and parking maps, can be found at https://www.uwinnipeg.ca/maps/. The Gallery is located on the main floor of Centennial Hall at 515 Portage Avenue. Accessible, street level visitor entrances with auto door openers and ramps are via Portage Avenue, Ellice Avenue and Spence Street. The gallery doors are equipped with auto-openers. There is a gender-inclusive, accessible washroom less than 100 feet from the Gallery entrance. Our exhibitions and affiliated events are free to everyone.