Ilsa AHmad
Director

Ilsa Ahmad (b.2000) is an emerging multidisciplinary artist currently living in amiskwaciywaskahikan/Edmonton, Alberta. Working in painting and new media, Ilsa explores the vanishing boundaries between digital realms, divine spaces, and their own emotional body. Pulling non-linear and sometimes nonsensical narratives from her dreams, lived experiences and stream-of-consciousness writing, Ilsa mythologizes these confessions/offerings as a form of storytelling, investigating the implications of radical honesty in all realities. ⁠
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Recent exhibitions include I don't know how, but I'm taller at FAB Gallery (2023), these bodies heal slowly and in our own time at McMullen Gallery (2023), and the soil between plants at Latitude 53 (2022). Ilsa co-curated Growing Pains at dc3 Art Projects (2023) with Amanda Komarniski and Lisa Bourque. ⁠ 

Christina Battle
Director

Christina Battle is an artist based in amiskwacîwâskahikan, (also known as Edmonton, Alberta), within the Aspen Parkland: the transition zone where prairie and forest meet. Her practice focuses on thinking deeply about the concept of disaster: its complexity, and the intricacies that are entwined within it. Much of this work extends from her recent PhD dissertation (Art & Visual Culture, Western University, 2020) which looked closer to community responses to disaster: the ways in which they take shape, and especially to how online models might help to frame and strengthen such response. [www.cbattle.com]      

Clare gerein
Director

Clare Gerein is a lawyer in Edmonton, practicing in the area of child welfare litigation. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of British Columbia, and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Alberta. Though not an artist by profession, Clare grew up painting as a hobby, and she continues to foster a passion for visual art. What Clare appreciates most about her adopted hometown of Edmonton is its rich arts and culture scene, and she's honoured to play a small part in that scene on the board of Latitude 53.

gordon harper
Director

Gordon Harper is a visual artist and an advocate for architecture and urban spaces. He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Calgary, and a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Alberta, and has exhibited at venues throughout the province, including the Art Gallery of Alberta, Esplanade Arts & Heritage Centre, and the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies. He is represented by the Peter Robertson Gallery.

When he is not painting in his studio, you will find Gordon cycling through the River Valley, or trying to mix the perfect Sidecar.

ISABELLE HEBERT
Director

Isabelle Hebert fell in love with theatre at the age of 9 when she saw her very first live professional theatre production in Edmonton. In 2012 Isabelle received her BFA in Technical Theatre with a Specialization in Stage Management and subsequently pursued a full time career as a Stage Manager in Edmonton. She later switched gears and joined ATB, and started her banking career. In 2017 ATB established the Branch for Arts + Culture. She has been with that team since the very beginning, and truly loves blending both her passions: the arts and helping people with their financial needs. She currently leads the financial side as their Business Leader. Her love of the arts community and helping bring its financial stability has also led Isabelle to be on Edmonton Screen Industry Office’s advisory committee since 2018. She is thrilled to be part of Latitude 53’s board as their Treasurer.

Ferdinand Langit
Director

A quintessential design and fine-art geek, Ferdinand Langit is a non-profit professional who has held various roles that have focused on marketing, communications, fund development and community engagement. He attended the University of Alberta where he obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science with a specialization in Political Philosophy. His volunteer experiences include co-hosting a show on CJSR Radio and serving on the board of the Pride Centre of Edmonton, as well as the Society of Northern Alberta Print-artists. In his spare time you can find Ferdinand playing on his Nintendo Switch.

Riaz Mehmood
Director

Riaz Mehmood is a multidisciplinary artist who uses video, photography and computer programming as his primary means of expression. His research explorations involve examining emerging technologies and their relationship to art, and his practice often visits themes of multiple and fluid identities, geographical, psychological and cultural displacement, magic realism, and the development of knowledge. He immigrated to Canada in 2000 as a professional engineer and decided to pursue a career in the arts. Mehmood holds an MFA from the University of Windsor (2012) and completed the Integrated Media program at the Ontario College of Art and Design (2005). He has participated in several international and national artist residencies and workshops, and his works have been shown nationally and internationally.⁠

Emily Riddle
CO-CHAIR

Emily Riddle is a nehiyaw writer, researcher, and library worker. She is a member of the Alexander First Nation in Treaty Six territory and lives in her traditional territory in Edmonton. Her first poetry chapbook will be published by Moon Jelly Press in 2021. She is on the Board of Advisors for the Yellowhead Institute, a First Nations think tank based out of Ryerson University. She has experience working with First Nations and Metis communities on policy, governance, and communications projects. She is currently the Senior Advisor, Indigenous Relations for the Edmonton Public Library and was named Top 30 Under 30 by the Alberta Council for Global Cooperation in 2019. Her writing has appeared in the Globe and Mail, Teen Vogue, Vice, Canadian Art and other publications.

Elsa Robinson
Director

Elsa Robinson is an Edmonton-based mixed media artist, sculptor and painter whose decades long devotion to artistic practice has imbued her work with vibrancy, versatility and an intuitive spiritual poignancy. She began her art career as a self-taught artist, and she now holds a BA from the University of Alberta's Art and Design program and a MFA from the Vermont College of Fine Art. She was the recipient of the 2012 Fill Fraser Award for Outstanding Work in Visual Arts, awarded by the National Black Coalition of Canada. With careful attention to colour, shape, texture, intuition and the power of cultural symbols, Robinson expresses the notions of love, friendship, inner strength, equality and ancestral connection that most powerfully guide her own life. Robinson is also a passionate educator and community builder, who creates conversation, reflection and moments of undeniable emotional connection.

mATT WARD
Co-chair

Matt Ward (he/they) is a queer nêhiyaw from Driftpile Cree Nation (Treaty 8) living on Treaty 6 territory in amiskwacîwâskahikan. With a background in community based research and Critical Indigenous studies, they work for an Indigenous public relations and engagement firm and volunteer in the housing/homelessness, poverty reduction, and broader community services sector. Their current roles include Engagement Manager at pipikwan pêhtâkwan and Chair of the Human Services Community Granting Committee at the Edmonton Community Foundation. In their free time they’re usually found downtown Edmonton, where they live.