Shalaka is a writer, researcher, and curator who spent their childhood between cities in India and in Dubai, before moving to a neighbourhood spitting distance from Ontario’s largest mall. Shalaka’s research interests on spatial positionality and critical geographies of grief, public memory, and queer ecologies can be evidenced in exhibitions they have curated in Halifax, Winnipeg, and Toronto. Shalaka has held roles at OCAD and The Blackwood, and is the co-director of Textile, a hyper-local arts collective in Waterloo Region that supports writers and artists through mentorship, publishing, and curation. Shalaka splits their time on Haldimand Tract and Treaty 1 territory and always orders dessert.

Nic Wilson (he/they) is an artist and writer who was born in the Wolastoqiyik territory known as Fredericton, NB in 1988. He graduated with a BFA from Mount Allison University, Mi’kmaq territory, in 2012, and an MFA from the University of Regina, Treaty Four Territory, in 2019 where he was a SSHRC graduate fellow. Wilson creates videos, performances and artist books.Their work often engages time, queer lineage, decay, and the distance between art practice and literature. In 2021 they were long-listed for the Sobey Art Award and their writing has appeared in Peripheral Review, NORK, C Magazine, and Border Crossings.