Contemporary Conversations: Our connected ecosystem
With Tyler Los-Jones, Sandra Sawatzky, and Alberta Rose W. / Ingniq
Moderated by Mona Filip
February 19
Heather Edwards Theatre | 6-7:30 PM
Join us for a conversational panel in conjunction with Entwined, featuring exhibiting artists Tyler Los-Jones, Sandra Sawatzky, and Alberta Rose W. / Ingniq. The panel will be moderated by Chief Curator Mona Filip, curator of the exhibition.
Drawing on the three artists’ practices, the conversation will reflect on shared ecologies and multispecies entanglements, considering the ways in which art can encourage an empathetic understanding of our connected world.
Contemporary Conversations are presented by RBC Foundation.
Entwined is on view in the Ring Galleries, Dome, Atrium, and Bow View Hall until March 15, 2026.
About the panellists
Tyler Los-Jones
(he/him)
Tyler Los-Jones produces objects and images from his home near the Rocky Mountains of Alberta. His work aims to complicate inherited assumptions of environments and highlight unnatural aspects of the Western conception of nature. Los-Jones is fascinated by the role that photography plays in shaping and fulfilling expectations for environments. Since graduating from the Alberta College of Art and Design (now Alberta University of the Arts) in 2007, Los-Jones’ photographic and sculptural work has been exhibited extensively across Canada and in the US. He has been commissioned to produce multiple large-scale public artworks, including A panorama protects its views for the Art Gallery of Alberta (Edmonton) and To Keep the Promise at the Calgary Airport Marriott In-Terminal Hotel. His most recent public artwork, Knit by roots and wings, was installed in Kelowna, BC, in September 2024.
Sandra Sawatzky
(she/her)
Sandra Sawatzky is a visual artist, storyteller, researcher and embroiderer, creating monumental textile installations that take years to make. With humour and a keen eye, she explores historical, consequential, and topical subjects with a very small needle and miles of colourful wool and silk thread. Her work has been exhibited in Canada, Britain and the USA, and has received national and international press from CBC National News and The Globe and Mail to The Guardian and Art in America. The Calgary Herald named her a rising star in 2018. She received Calgary’s Arts Legacy Award for Outstanding Artist in 2022.
Alberta Rose W. / Ingniq. Reclaimed Landscape, 2017. Courtesy of the artist.
Alberta Rose W. / Ingniq
(she/her)
Alberta Rose W. / Ingniq is an Inuvialuk artist, curator, and preparator based in the Treaty 7 region of Alberta, Canada. She earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts with distinction from the Alberta University of the Arts, followed by a preparatory practicum at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. Her practice involves painting, embroidery, beadwork, sculptural installation, video, and photography. She has participated in residencies at the Banff Centre, Contemporary Calgary, and the Calgary Central Library. Her work has been exhibited across Turtle Island. In 2021, Alberta received the honour of being named the TD Indigenous Artist of the Year in Calgary, Alberta.
About the Moderator
Mona Filip
(she/her)
Mona Filip is Contemporary Calgary’s Chief Curator. Her curatorial career spans two decades of developing critical visual art programs, supporting the production of new works, and introducing national and international artists to new audiences through first local exhibitions. Filip’s projects have explored the intersections of collective memory, place, and belonging, examining artistic strategies that redress sidelined histories, restitution and repair, and storytelling as world-building. Originally from Bucharest, Romania, Filip holds a BFA from the Corcoran School of Art, Washington DC, and an MFA from SUNY at Buffalo.
