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2025

Structural Integrity: A Poetic Intervention

Venue
Steelcase Art Projects
Dates
September 27, 2025 – September 2026
Artists
Farah Ghafoor, Jody Chan, Anna Lee-Popham, Karen Solie, Phoebe Wang, Jess Yuan, Catherine Cachia
Co-curated with
Andrea Carson Barker
Source
Installation view, Steelcase Art Projects, 2025
Curatorial note

Structural Integrity: A Poetic Intervention is a site-specific exhibition that examines the invisible systems shaping urban life. Six original poems by Farah Ghafoor, Jody Chan, Anna Lee-Popham, Karen Solie, Phoebe Wang, and Jess Yuan are installed across the exteriors of industrial buildings through painted text and printed vinyl by Catherine Cachia, creating an unexpected dialogue between art, architecture, and community.

How do the structures of society hold up to the test of time? The exhibition asks audiences to consider who and what these spaces prioritize as we face an uncertain future.

Photography by Darren Rigo.

Documentation
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Programming
About the artists

Farah Ghafoor is the author of Shadow Price (House of Anansi, 2025), winner of the E.J. Pratt Medal and Prize in Poetry. She also served as curatorial coordinator for Structural Integrity.

Jody Chan is the author of sick (Black Lawrence Press), winner of the 2018 St. Lawrence Book Award and the 2021 Trillium Award for Poetry.

Anna Lee-Popham is a Toronto-based poet whose work was first runner-up for PRISM international's Pacific Poetry Prize and longlisted for the 2022 CBC Nonfiction Prize.

Karen Solie is a Guggenheim Fellow whose five poetry collections have won the Griffin Prize, the Pat Lowther Award, and the Trillium Poetry Prize.

Phoebe Wang is the author of Admission Requirements, shortlisted for the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award and the Pat Lowther Memorial Award.

Jess Yuan is a poet and architect, and the author of Slow Render (2024), winner of the Airlie Prize.

Catherine Cachia is a multidisciplinary artist based in Toronto who works across mural painting, hand lettering, illustration, documentary photography, and more. The thread that runs through her work is embracing what's imperfect, messy, and human. She considers art making to be a spiritual practice that can bring a sense of healing and balance to both artist and viewer. Catherine has been working as a professional, independent freelance artist since 2015.