Threads in Time

Atrayee Basu | Aldeneil Española Jr. | Abraham Galman | Chen (Beni) Shen | Namya Jain | Qiming Sezava Sun

May 4 - May 22, 2026

Gordon Snelgrove Gallery

An Asian Heritage Month Exhibition Curated by Xio Han 

Exhibition: May 4 - May 22, 2026
Closing Reception: Thursday, May 21 from 5 - 8PM

Threads of Time brings together six Saskatoon-based emerging artists connected to the University of Saskatchewan. Working across painting, sculpture, photography, textiles, and performance, they share creative expressions shaped by cultural memory and everyday life on the prairies as Asian Canadians.

The artworks explore themes including the parallels between life and death, relationships between sentient and otherworldly beings, and secret languages that weave across time and space—tracing connections between past, present, and future, where time is felt as much as it is measured; knowledge shared across generations.

Together, the works show how these six artists—MFA alumni and current MFA and BFA students—navigate and contribute their incredible talents and distinct cultural heritage to the thriving art scene in Saskatchewan through unique and disciplined visual languages.

Atrayee Basu is an Indian-born Canadian interdisciplinary artist based in Treaty-6 and the home of many ancestors. She is completing her master’s program in Fine Arts at USASK, in association with Anthropology. Her research examines the relationships among materials, land, and human relationships to cultural heritage through the processes of making, repurposing, reimagining, and renewing.

Aldeneil Española Jr. is a queer, first-generation Canadian-Filipinx artist living and working on Treaty 6 Territory in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. A graduate of the Bachelor of Fine Arts – Studio Arts (Honours) program at the University of Saskatchewan, Aldeneil's practice examines identity as a living, accumulative process that is shaped by the ongoing negotiations of place, gender, and time.

Abraham Galman is an Interdisciplinary Artist and Designer based in Saskatoon, SK. As a Queer Filipino Canadian, he aims to bring traditional Filipino culture and Queer culture at the very forefront of his artistic practice. Currently finishing his BFA in Design in Drama at the University of Saskatchewan, his background in set and costume design are the building blocks of his artistic practice.

Chen (Beni) Shen is a multidisciplinary artist based in Saskatoon, Canada, working across painting and ceramics. Born in Shanghai, China, her practice inhabits the fragile space between body and memory. Through softened anatomies and shifting forms, she traces care, rupture, and transformation, questioning how we remain present as certainty begins to dissolve.

Namya Jain is a Delhi-born photographic artist and a graduate of the University of Saskatchewan. Her work explores the profound cycle of Jeevan and Mrityu—Life and Death—capturing the resilient beauty found within decay and the natural world. Through a vintage aesthetic, she challenges viewers to find elegance in the grotesque and to recognize every end as a "new bloom."

Qiming Sezava Sun is a Canadian visual artist/witch based in Saskatoon (Treaty 6). Working across the disciplines of painting, sculpture, land art installation, and performance art, Sun’s work navigates enigmatic occult traditions and explores his pagan heritage. Sun received his MFA and BFA with High Honours from the University of Saskatchewan.