Artist Bios
Echoes from the Root / Artist Bios
The creative talents
Discover Echoes From The Root Artists
Alexia D'Amato (she/her)
Alexia D’Amato is a dancer, choreographer, yoga instructor and teacher. Her passion for dance has grown and allowed her to stay committed to the art for over 25 years. As an artist and teacher, she has found great importance in bringing dance into people lives. She is dedicated in encouraging people of all ages to find their own passion and love of the arts.
Through the beautiful voices of the singers, movement and music become one.
Reaz Masud (he/him)
About me: I love music, and want to share the joy with everyone that I feel through singing.
What audiences can expect: a Bengali cover song Sohorbodi Megh – originally by Meghdol band from Bangladesh.
Website / socials: https://www.youtube.com/
@masudias404
Zahra Dhanani (She/They)
Zahra is a devotee of the Goddess.
Transcending Terror
This narrative piece journeys the misogyny routed in my bloodline, inherited as terror, passed down from generations of women and femmes who worship the goddess. That oppressive fear makes it a fight just to stay alive. To speak. To be. But my love and commitment to her is stronger than ever and I know she will prevail.
Shafik Kamani (he/him/his)
Curatorial Statement: When presented with the opportunity to work co-curate the Echoes From The Roots with fellow Limitless creator Ashima Suri, I couldn’t refuse. It was a chance to tell these 7 stories in an intimate setting and allowing a sensory connection. While Ashima and Shafik may have the same artistic brief in front of them, they bring two very different lens into how they wanted to present this show. At the end its been great to see our collective vision come together. Echoes From The Roots is designed to be immersive and reflective, whie offering a unique journey through sound, memory, and movement.
– xoxo Shafik
About me: Kenyan-born, Canadian South Asian multidisciplinary artist & self-proclaimed “creative mad human” whose work is expressed thru painting, dance, and storytelling. Rooted in the philosophy that art should provoke, heal, and transform, his creations are both deeply personal and universally resonant.
Navigating the intersections of his queerness, culture, religion, spirituality, addiction, and his shame, Shafik uses his artistic practice as a form of self-reclamation. His work is less about finding answers and more about uncovering truths—layer by layer. “As I get older, I don’t have all the answers, but this process of exploration has allowed me to slowly chip away at the layers and become more comfortable with all the parts that make me who I am.”
Driven by vulnerability & grounded in purpose, Shafik’s mission is simple yet powerful: to make art that matters.
What audiences can expect: NO SPACE FOR HATE, MIIGWETCH!
This Art piece is a physical manifestation of the speech given by Winnipeg Desi Queers co-founder on OCTOBER 21st, 2023 at the Manitoba Legislative Building – Treaty 1 Territory. They came together against anti-trans and anti-queer hate! A a counter-protest party against the “1 Million March 4 Children”. They showed up to stop the rise of hate and misinformation, to show support for Two Spirit, trans, and non-binary youth. The “No Space for Hate Collective” brings many voices together to face this rise in hate with fierce love.
Website / socials:
Instagram: @shafikkamani
Hamidah Hemani (She/Her)
Hamidah Hemani is a Toronto-based photographer, visual artist, and creative writer with a focus on identity, culture, and queer South Asian narratives. Her work spans conceptual, documentary, and performance photography. She is the founder of Hamidah Hemani Photos and has exhibited internationally, including a solo show at The ArQuives.
Roots: In Conflict
Roots: In Conflict is a personal and political excavation of lineage, migration, and memory. Drawing from my family’s journey across India, Burma, Pakistan, and eventually to Canada, this project explores identity shaped not only by movement, but by rupture — the kind caused by borders, wars, and inherited silence. Central to this work is the enduring conflict between India and Pakistan over Kashmir — a region whose pain and beauty live in the shadow of political divisions, yet remain part of our shared subcontinental soul.
Through photography and mixed media, I engage with the emotional geography of displacement and belonging. Roots: In Conflict is a reclamation of cultural memory — not through nationhood, but through story, food, language, and grief. It is a visual homage to ancestral legacy, and to the quiet resistance of remembering who we were before we were separated.
Website / socials:
Instagram: Hamidah.Hemani.Photos
photos.hamidahhemani@gmail.com
Priya, Natkeeran, Nila, & Anbu
Like millions of fellow Canadians, we fled our home, escaping discrimination, persecution and war in Sri Lanka to make a home in Canada. Our young kids, Nila and Anbu, were born here and have never been to Sri Lanka. There is no home for us in Sri Lanka, but our memories, histories, language, food, music and stories are very much with us. Having grown up in Toronto and Montreal, the values and echoes of these cities, especially celebration of diversity and varied expressions, is equally important for us. We pass on our language, values and stories to our kids and community, both as a celebration and as an act of resistance.
Making a Home Through Stories
Surviving war zones, long sea voyages, imprisonment and uncertainty, the journey our parents made to Canada was dangerous and precarious. Making a living in Canada and finding our way in a new land was challenging. Having grown up, weaving histories, values, languages and stories of different worlds, we now carry on and pass them down to our children and share them with the community. Through stories our kids can immerse themselves in Tamil and connect with its rich literary, oral and folk traditions of more than two millennia. They can see themselves in heroes of the ancient and new worlds and learn to question and resist. We hope to share some of those memories and stories with you.
Shuvanon Rajit (he/him)
Shuvanon Rajit started taking vocal lessons at the age of 5. He also plays multiple eastern and western musical instruments.
A brief khayal on Raag Jog.
Ashima Suri
