Conversation with Artists Bria Fernandes and Ekene Emeka Maduka

Conversation with Artists Bria Fernandes and Ekene Emeka Maduka
Moderated by Déandra Grace Daniel
Thursday, October 9, 2025
10:00 - 11:15 am
Room 2M70 (Second floor of Manitoba Hall), The University of Winnipeg

If you plan to attend and require ASL interpretation, please contact us prior to October 2.

Join us for this special event presented in conjunction with Gallery 1C03’s exhibition Things Left Unsaid, featuring the work of Bria Fernandes. Fernandes and Things Left Unsaid exhibition essayist Ekene Emeka Maduka are both Black women painters living and working in Winnipeg who depict themselves in their art. With moderator Déandra Grace Daniel, they will discuss the significance of self-portraiture and symbolic imagery in their work and the emotional states that fuel it.

ABOUT THE MODERATOR AND ARTISTS

Déandra Grace Daniel is a Barbadian curator, filmmaker, and multidisciplinary artist whose work spans film, fine and digital art. Rooted in her Caribbean heritage, her practice explores femininity, sexuality, spirituality, nationalism, and migration, often reflecting the intersection of personal identity and collective experience. Beginning in theatre and dance, her work has evolved into a dialogue between self and society. She holds a BFA in Creative Arts (Film) from the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill, and is currently reading for an MA in Cultural Studies (Curatorial Practice) at the University of Winnipeg. For Déandra, art is both catharsis and conversation

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).

Ekene Emeka Maduka is a Nigerian artist based in Winnipeg. Her interdisciplinary practice includes painting, sculpture, film, and community-based work which generate from emotional and psychological states related to splintered identity indicative of migrant experiences like hers. Although Maduka’s work stems from a conflation of her own fragmentary memories, personal events, or experiences, they are always interlinked to the larger historical, cultural, and social contexts they emerge from. She received her BFA (Hons) from University of Manitoba. Her work has been exhibited and screened locally and globally. In 2023, Maduka was commissioned to fabricate a public art work for the STAGES Bienniale by Plug In ICA. Her art is in the permanent collection of The Museum of Africa Contemporary Art Al Maaden (MACAAL). In 2024, she was awarded the Royal Bank of Canada ON THE RISE Award presented by the Winnipeg Arts Council. Maduka has gallery representation with Fabienne Levy Gallery, Switzerland.

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/. Room 2M70 is located on the second floor of Manitoba Hall, marked with an "M" on the campus map. Accessible, street level visitor entrances with auto door openers and ramps are via Portage Avenue, Ellice Avenue and Spence Street. The nearest elevator access is beside the Ellice Avenue entrance doors. There are gendered, accessible washrooms twenty feet from 2M70 and there is a gender-neutral washroom inside room 2M70.