Faces and Traces: A Cross-Border Portrait Project

“Faces and Traces: A Cross-Border Portrait Project” is an exhibition that displays a unique cross-border-themed portrait exchange between three universities in different locations; OCAD University (OCAD U), Michigan State University (MSU) and Museum Studies students from the State University of New York, Geneseo.

Art students from OCAD U and MSU researched and drew one another’s portraits from January 20 – March 24, 2025, focusing on themes of site, place, and identity. Students from the State University of New York, Geneseo, worked on curatorial writing and a digital exhibition of the work. The project began with a dynamic digital pen pal format. Students engaged in three rounds of email correspondence to gather initial impressions, across national and state borders. They then had a virtual meeting to discuss their correspondence and did in-depth interviews about one another’s lives. Following these rich conversations, the artists mailed photographs of themselves and a collection of personal or creative materials that represented their personalities and their locations.

These exchanges provided an artistic challenge for the artists to translate a stranger’s presence into a work of art. The drawings capture the likeness of their partner and explore their relationships and friendships across the Canadian American Border. The political environment of tariffs, cross-border policy conflicts and economic uncertainty over the ensuing weeks created an unexpected creative tension and political context for the drawings. Revealing that it is more important than ever for students to engage and learn about their nation’s neighbours. This project was a fruitful opportunity to build unique, personal, and positive relationships between countries. This resulting exhibition then provides a fascinating insight into how each subject communicates an impression of their lives to someone unfamiliar.

The portraits will be part of a travelling exhibition titled “Faces and Traces: A Cross-Border Portrait Project.” They will be shown at Stackt North Hall Gallery in Toronto from April 2 to 13, 2025. The exhibition will then travel to MSU and be displayed at SCENE Metrospace gallery in November 2025. A digital augmented reality exhibition curated by the Museum Studies students at SUNY Geneseo in New York, will launch in Spring of 2025.

This project was collaboratively designed and taught by instructors Candice Candice Chovanec (MSU), and Morgan Hill (MSU), Dr. Alla Myzelev (SUNY), Ilene Sova (OCAD U). This unique Collaborative Online International Learning experience is supported by the International Programs & Collaborations Office and Faculty of Art Office at OCAD U, the Canadian Studies Centre at MSU and the Art History Department at SUNY Geneseo. This project was initiated through the work of d’Ann de Simone, Professor of Studio Art at the Department of Art, Art History and Design, Michigan State University. De Simone received funding under the auspices of an International Strategic Partnership Grant from the MSU Canadian Studies Center and invaluable assistance from its Director, Dr. Rebecca Maloui.