Waard Ward
September 4 -30, 2021
Petrina Ng, Abd Al-Mounim, Hanen Nanaa,
Laura Ritacca, Patricia Ritacca
Launching this September at the Visual Arts Centre of Clarington, Waard Ward is a collaborative, social practice project that engages newcomers to train as florists. Waard Ward collective (artist Petrina Ng, florist Abd Al-Mounim, community organizer Hanen Nanaa, educator Laura Ritacca, and curator/educator Patricia Ritacca) will offer a series of workshops to Arabic-speaking refugees and newcomers to develop flower-arranging skills and social-entrepreneurial futures. Waard Waard's project attempts to embody a space for collaboration and co-learning, which will display each workshop's floral arrangements, with new flowers added and vessels continuously re-arranged weekly.
Waard Ward's name proposes the idea of a diasporic "flower district"; waard is a Romanization of the Arabic word for flower. Waard Ward builds on the group's previous collaborations with flower arranging, decolonial research, and newcomer engagement.
Waard Ward's advisors are Allison Chow and Joseph PItawanakwat. Allison is a cut flower grower and garden designer. Her urban flower farm and design studio, together named Posy Gang, are located in Whitby, Ontario. Joseph is Ojibway from Wikwemikong and founder/director of Creators Garden, an Indigenous outdoor education-based business, focused on plant identification, beyond-sustainable harvesting, and teaching every one of their linguistic, historical, cultural, edible, ecological and medicinal significance through experience.
Ceramic vessels were designed and created by Frances Thelma Sauer Lorenz (1921–2007). Frances studied and taught dressmaking, tailoring, millinery, pottery, and Ikebana at Toronto Ohara School of Ikebana. Her pottery has been purchased by many prominent scholars of Ikebana in Japan, and eventually Frances also was certified as a Master Teacher. Her unique pottery designs continue to be well-loved throughout the Ikebana community. Thank you to Frances' family in Dunnville, Ontario for sharing Frances' story.
Special thanks to the Syrian Canadian Foundation and the Nanaa family.
Funded by:
Exhibition text
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Do Roses Dream of Freedom?
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هل الورود تحلم بالحرية؟
Artist Biographies
Waard Ward is a new arts collective, conceived by artist Petrina Ng in collaboration with curator/educator Patricia Ritacca, community organizers Hanen Nanaa and Laura Ritacca, and Hanen's father, Syrian florist Abd Al-Mounim. Our collective's name proposes the idea of a diasporic "flower district"; waard is a Romanization of the Arabic word for flower. Waard Ward builds on the group's previous collaborations with flower arranging, decolonial research, and newcomer engagement.
Petrina Ng's collaborative artist practice proposes alternative responses to redress subtle or invisible colonial legacies. She is also a member of collectives Gendai and Durable Good.
Patricia Ritacca is a Toronto-based curator and educator. She is a founding member of Aisle 4 curatorial collective and is currently Education and Public Engagement Manager at Koffler Centre of the Arts.
Hanen Nanaa is a student at Ryerson University, majoring in Politics and Governance. She is the founder of BAM (Books, Art Music) collective and currently Outreach and Program Coordinator at the Syrian Canadian Foundation.
Laura Ritacca is an educator and community organizer whose experience varies from medical research to educational programming for newcomer communities. She is OCT certified in JK-Grade 10, with a specialization in Mathematics.
Abd Al-Mounim is a Syrian florist from Aleppo. He has worked in the floral industry for over 15 years, and immigrated to Canada in 2016.
