Matrilineal Memory: Discussion with Muriel Ahmarani Jaouich & Amanda Boulos

Panel discussion as part of the programming for the exhibition 'Cartographies of Longing' In this conversation moderated by curator Sandy Saad-Smith, Cartographies of Longing artists Muriel Ahmarani Jaouich and Amanda Boulos will explore of the role of women as storytellers, knowledge keepers, and carriers of memory within their work. Considering how histories are carried across generations through matrilineal connections, they will look at how these inherited narratives shape artistic practice and past, present, and future relationships to home, family, and belonging. Free, open to the public. Registration required. Light refreshments will be served. This is a seated program. The Ralph Campbell Lounge is wheelchair accessible. If you have accommodation needs, please let us know through the registration form or contact [email protected]. ----- ABOUT THE ARTISTS Muriel Ahmarani Jaouich is a Canadian artist of Armenian, Egyptian, and Lebanese descent whose painting practice explores genealogy, intergenerational trauma, and historical violence. Deeply rooted in her family’s histories of diaspora, immigration, and genocide, her work draws from oral histories, photographic archives, and inherited objects. She transforms these sources into narratives that weave memory and imagination, resonating with the complexities of ancestral grief. Her practice is grounded in a continual process of listening, with the belief that attending to ancestral grief can create pathways toward liberation for present and future generations. Ahmarani Jaouich lives in Tiohtià:ke / Montreal, Quebec, on the traditional territory of the Kanien’kehá Nation. She is a recipient of the Lilian Vineberg Scholarship, Merit Scholarship, and Tom Hopkins Memorial Award. Her work has been exhibited at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Patel Brown, CLARK Center, articule, Printemps du MAC, and Arsenal New York. Her paintings are held in institutional and corporate collections, including the Doris McCarthy Gallery, Hydro-Québec, RBC, and Scotiabank, as well as in private collections in the United States, Italy, Czechia, Spain, and Canada. Ahmarani Jaouich is represented by Patel Brown. Amanda Boulos (she/her) is a visual artist and educator based in Tkaronto/Toronto. Boulos explores how oral narratives from Palestine, Lebanon, and Canada shape the Palestinian diaspora or shattat. She recently exhibited at Centre Clark (Tiohtià:ke/Montreal, QC), Clint Roenisch Gallery (Tkaronto/Toronto, ON), The Bows (Mohkínstsis/Calgary, AB), No.9 Gardens/Agnes Etherington Art Centre (Ka’tarohkwi/Kingston, ON), and de Montigny, (Ottawa, ON). She was the winner of the 20th RBC Painting Prize, and has been supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, and the Toronto Arts Council. Boulos is an Assistant Professor of Painting and Drawing at OCAD University, a founding member of the Toronto project space the plumb, and a programmer for the Toronto Palestine Film Festival. ----- ABOUT THE EXHIBITION This program is presented in conjunction with Cartographies of Longing (September 15 – December 5, 2026). The exhibition brings together artists whose practices draw upon family histories, oral traditions, and archival fragments to map intergenerational relationships to land. Throughout the exhibition, past and present unfold simultaneously, shaped by migration, colonialism, environmental transformation, and the enduring legacies of displacement. Rather than presenting land as a fixed geography, the exhibition approaches it as a living archive, continually formed through memory, storytelling, movement, and lived experience. Cartographies of Longing is presented by the Doris McCarthy Gallery and supported by the Toronto Arts Council; Canada Council for the Arts; Jackman Humanities Institute, University of Toronto; and the Year of Poetry at University of Toronto Scarborough. ----- Image: Muriel Ahmarani Jaouich, In the Garden of Mardin, 2023. Oil on canvas, 213.4 x 152.4 cm.