Canadian Immigrant Artists Anthology（CIAA）
Celebrating Immigrant Voices in Canadian Art
Roots & Bridge Publishing proudly presents the Annual Artist Anthology, a collection that showcases 5-10 emerging Canadian artists from diverse cultural backgrounds. More than just an art book, this anthology highlights the personal stories behind each creation, exploring how immigration experiences shape artistic expression.
This book is the first in a larger series that Roots & Bridge plans to publish every one to two years. Each chapter will feature an artist’s work alongside their journey, offering insights that are both personal and universally relatable. Through this project, we aim to build a community of immigrant voices, celebrating the fusion of cultural heritage and Canada’s artistic landscape.
If you’re an artist with a unique perspective to share, we invite you to join us. Let’s connect and bring this vision to life together. Feel free to spread the word and share this exciting project on your social media!
Let's meet our Artists
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Kris Cvetkovic
Born in Serbia in 1976 and raised in Canada, Kris Cvetković is a Toronto-based artist and designer. A Humber College graduate in Advertising & Graphic Design, he blends fine art and design, drawing inspiration from Impressionism and Abstract Expressionism. His work explores nature, chaos, and the intricate patterns that shape both organic and urban worlds.
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Keerthana Jhutty
Born in Chennai, India in 1995, Keerthana moved to Canada in 2013 to study Mechanical Engineering at the University of Toronto. After working at Honda, she transitioned into Data Engineering and AI while pursuing her passion for art. Trained in oil painting, printmaking, and figure drawing, she continues to bridge technology and creativity through constant learning and exploration.
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Gustavo Artigas
Born in Mexico City in 1970, Gustavo Artigas is a Toronto- and Mexico-based artist known for exploring play, risk, and social tension through performance and installation. His work has been shown at major biennials and institutions worldwide. He co-directs Art Links Inc., a Canada-based contemporary art initiative.es here
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Parmeet Arora Bori
An Indian-born mixed media artist and illustrator based in Toronto, Parmeet Arora Bori channels nostalgia and gratitude through her vibrant works. After losing her mother and becoming one herself, she turned to art as a space for healing and reflection—celebrating family, childhood, and the simple joys that shape belonging.
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Melissa Boodoo
A second-generation Chinese-Trinidadian Canadian artist, Melissa creates from the in-between—of cultures, change, and self-discovery. Her water-inspired works—koi, lotus, ripples—reflect resilience, belonging, and renewal. Also an interior and furniture designer, she has exhibited across Ontario and earned awards for The Lotus and the Koi, inviting viewers to find home within themselves.
Afterword
This collection is titled Unframed. The name holds a quiet hope—for this first gathering of immigrant artists to exist in that rare and beautiful state: not a blank canvas, but the moment just after the first mark is made. That in-between space where creation has begun but not yet declared its form. It is tender, full of possibility—where freedom meets becoming. Much like who we are, right now.
The seed for this collection was planted long before I founded Roots & Bridge. If I trace it back to its earliest shape—just a vague, flickering desire to create a book that might capture the spirit of contemporary artists—then my journey toward this project began more than a decade ago. Back then, I was still in China, my understanding of the wider world still forming. Canada was, to me, a distant dream—unfamiliar, intangible.
But something about it called to me. I was drawn to the idea of a place open to difference, where people from everywhere walk the same streets, share stories, exchange art. I imagined chance encounters with artists, conversations sparked in cafés or parks. It seemed almost too romantic to be real. And yet, when our family eventually arrived and made a home in downtown Toronto, I discovered that dream was, in fact, the daily rhythm of life.
With time, I shared this vision with artists I met. Within six months, more than a dozen friends responded—not only with enthusiasm, but with trust. Still, a book is not built in a moment. Creating art is one thing; writing it down, giving it shape on the page, requires something deeper: endurance, vulnerability, and care. And now, after many conversations, revisions, and quiet hours, this collection has come into being.
The artists within these pages come from, or are rooted in, places like Mexico, Serbia, India, China, and the Caribbean island of Trinidad. This diversity wasn’t planned, but it turns out to be what I hoped for. It reflects the heart of the project: to gather voices from many homes, many histories, and to ask—what cultural memory lives in their blood? How do they see the world? How does their art speak, and how does Canada appear through their eyes?
In the next volume, I hope more friends from across the globe will join us—sharing their truths, their stories, and the many ways they shape beauty from experience.
This is only the beginning.
It is also a quiet footnote to the year 2025.
Thank you for your support. We look forward to meeting you again in 2026.
Brian Li
