Jessica Velasco

I really wish I weren’t living through a major historical event right now! I wake up and make myself a coffee. A few hours later, I make another, and then another, each time hoping the caffeine will supplement my motivation instead of amping my heart rate. I stare at my workspace waiting to be used but I don’t go to it. I gaze at my phone full of unanswered messages and see my mother’s text, unopened after 5 days. I open Instagram instead to distract myself from the unease, mental stimulation until my next coffee. I wonder if it’s becoming an addiction, but even as I can’t sleep for the 13th night in a row, I tell myself it’s a small dependency at best.

Jessica Velasco is an emerging artist and curator in Toronto, currently completing her HBA at University of Toronto and her Diploma in Art & Art History at Sheridan College. They work within painting, drawing, installation, video, sound and performance. Her practice calls upon her experience being an interethnic person, Filipino and Canadian, navigating the biases and prejudices placed on her for being white-passing. Through their work, they are reclaiming their ethnic identity in the face of such prejudices. In her curating practice, she is interested in giving voice to other emerging artists. She is the recipient of the Vivian Duong Award for Mentorship (2019) and the Blackwood Gallery Award (2019).