Bea Palanca
A teacher, student and lover of movement, Bea is an artist and space-holder in their community of Tkaronto and has been for the past decade. In her wellness practice, Bea roots in to feeling and sensation more than in how a shape/breath/sequence 'should' feel. A reclamation of one's body is a step in retelling one's narrative and is vital to guiding oneself in their own healing. |
Cathleen Calica
is a queer filipinx artist born in Quezon City, Philippines, and now based in Tkaronto. She is Co-founder of 187 Augusta, as she focuses to hold spaces for BIPOC and LGBTQ+ communities. Cathleen creates spaces that comes from her dreams bringing them to life through stylist + art installations. This October, Cathleen is focusing on her shop May.ari, showcasing Toronto Artists at 187 Augusta. Find her work on Instagram @yunguava. |
Jaisa Sulit
danced Filipino folk dance for 12 years and practised as a neuro-rehab occupational therapist for six years until an accident left her with a spinal cord injury. Experiencing the benefits of mindfulness for anxiety, depression, chronic pain & chronic self-judgment, Jaisa became a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction teacher. After realizing the limitations of mindfulness alone, she moved to Vancouver to explore the effects of bringing her rehabilitation into the natural environment. There, Jaisa discovered the benefits of medical qigong, Chinese Shamanic Medicine and rock climbing. Jaisa then went on to become a certified practitioner in Medical Qigong and Chinese Shamanic Medicine as well as an ambassador for the Canadian Adaptive Climbing Society. Jaisa is now living in Toronto where she advocates for the benefits of mindful self-compassion, energetic- spiritual work, and connection with nature. Jaisa is the author of the Amazon Best Selling book: “Purpose in Paralysis: From Chronic Pain to Universal Gain.” |
Jennifer Maramba
Pangasinense and Ilongga, is a mother, healer & artist in Tkaronto (Toronto), Canada. Her gifted name from her elders at the Center for Babaylan Studies is Tulay Araw meaning the sun bridge. She co-directs the Kapwa Collective group’s creative and collaborative projects that disseminate Filipino Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Practices locally. She interfaces with local elders from Native communities to bridge narratives and teachings with the intention of acknowledging her own identity as a settler and what it means to be 'Filipinx' - 'Canadian'. Jennifer is an inter-disciplinary artist and creative arts facilitator/educator promoting healing through art. As an artist and healer, Jennifer has developed and facilitated arts healing for Tkaronto (Toronto, Canada) community groups, organizations and individuals. Her current work in eco-art healing, allows for individuals and groups to explore the healing power of nature and communicating with nature through a creative process of visual art, sound art and movement. Jennifer is a movement guide, Reiki / healing touch practitioner, and sacred space holder. In Tkaronto, Jennifer holds Sacred Circles and ceremony for BIPOC Healers and individuals who need a loving and safe place to hold Ritual and Ceremony for sacred intention, release, healing and to connect with ancestors and guides. Jennifer, her partner Alex JR and their children Kawayan and Kaleo form the Punzaramba Artist Family. Together they strive to learn more about and connect more deeply with their Filipino heritage, often traveling to the Philippines to immerse themselves within the culture of the Philippines. The Punzaramba Artist Family aims to share their journeys through the arts with the goal of bridging communities. As mentioned earlier, Jennifer is a member of the Kapwa Collective, a group of Filipino Canadian artists, critical thinkers, and healers who work towards bridging narratives between the Indigenous and the Diasporic, and the Filipino and the Canadian. The Kapwa Collective facilitates links among academic, artistic, activist, and other communities in Toronto, Canada. |
Kristen Jordan Alaan Sison
is a Filipinx artist and community choreographer born and rooted in Tkaronto. She is a founding member of Conscious Minds Co-operative and Kapwa Collective. Kristen's writing and organizing work is centred on remembering and reimagining ways of Being that heal our connection to Earth and Spirit. Kristen launches It's Bigger Than All of Us - a magazine on restorying reverence - this Summer. She believes in the power of storytelling to remake our world. |
Lukayo Diwata Bitoon (Estrella)
Born in the Philippines of the Bikol people, they are now based on the territories of the Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee, and Wyandot, and currently reside and travel between the cities of Toronto and Ottawa. As a healer, they come from a lineage of traditional healing through their father’s line, and have been mentored by a variety of spiritual teachers and healers of Christian, indigenous, and pagan worldviews. A Master in Social Work from York University and somatic experiencing training complements their practice. When not daydreaming of starting a sanctuary for land defenders and nonbinary priest(esse)s, Lukayo is probably hanging out at their intentional community home made up of activist gamer witches and a small black dog named Mooshu. Check out Lukayo.com to know more. |
Shaina Agbayani
I create to remember the miraculous within the mundane, the innovative brilliance of the ancient, and the freedom beyond the oppression, understanding land as the core ecology of art, technology, and revolution. I am trans-disciplinary non-binary queer conjurer, fermentation fairy, seed- singer, and descendant of care-workers rooted in movement between Scarborough and Pilipinas. As co-founder of Rootcare, an Ontario-based emergence by and for racialized, black, and indigenous creators who grow, creatively transform, and share food & land-connection wisdom consciously and inter-generationally, I am excited about creating radically, with Angela Davis' understanding that “Radical simply means 'grasping things at the root”. When I am not conjuring bacteria through culinary spells of fermentation, making theatre about fermentation as a queer practise of non-linear & de-colonial time, or writing about the colon as a site of de-colonization, I work as a colon hydrotherapist |