Artist-in-Residence: Deon Feng

Dec 17 – Jan 14, 2026

We’re pleased to welcome our first artist in residence of 2026 Deon Feng to SUM gallery, Dec 17 – Jan 14, 2026. Join us on Saturday, January 10 for a special SUM gallery Open House event, Service Surface.

Inspired by the artist’s personal experience working at a Chinese restaurant in Paris, Service Surface is the result of a month-long exploration into the tenuous negotiations between artistic creation and racialized service labour. Specifically, the residency examines “the Chinese restaurant” no longer as a backdrop in service, but as its own creative site of culture-making. Featuring artefacts of time theft on the job, ephemera from SUM gallery’s own surrounding restaurants, and photographs of the artist’s DIY bedroom-darkroom, this new body of work presents the messy metonymies between labour and art, service and surface. “Where should we go after the reception?”

ABOUT THE ARTIST:

冯棣盎 Deon Feng, (b.2002, “Vancouver”, BC) is an artist. They are accredited with a BA in Political Humanities from the Paris Institute for Political Studies (Sciences Po) and a BA in Visual Arts from UBC. Their work has been shown in solo projects at Artspeak Off-site and The Reach Gallery Museum in Abbotsford. Recent group exhibitions include Winterlong (People), Grad Ex (AHVA Gallery UBC), and Essential Pleasures New Happiness (Malaspina Howe Street Studios). Feng’s writing has appeared in The Fiddlehead, Cloud Lake Literary, and on CiTR 101.9FM, where they occasionally make playlists and sound experiments. Feng currently lives in Paris.

Gender Mutual

Jan 22 – Feb 27, 2026

SUM gallery’s first exhibition of 2026, Gender Mutual brings together six trans, non-binary, and gender-nonconforming trans artists — Liam MurleySoren DyckDee TwenteePaige BowmanAddison Finch, and curator-artist Jamie Lauder — whose practices illuminate the deeply personal, expansive, and often nonlinear journeys of living beyond the gender binary. Following a month-long residency at SUM gallery, the exhibition foregrounds self-determined narratives, embodied histories, and the many ways gender is shaped, challenged, and reimagined across diverse lived experiences. Through painting, textile art, photography, media work, and costume design, Gender Mutual amplifies voices often overshadowed, inviting audiences into a space of reflection, resonance, and possibility.

Join us for the Opening Reception on Thursday, January 22, 5–9pm.
Please note: to accommodate members of our community, from 5–6pm the Opening Reception will be masks mandatory; from 6pm to close, masks are recommended. Masks and hand sanitizer will be available at the reception desk.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:

Jamie Lauder (they/he/she) is a UK born, Canadian raised Artist, Illustrator + Tattooist living in so called Vancouver Canada. Primarily a self-taught artist with a background in design and education. Their practice ranges from 3 dimensional light pieces to drawing, multimedia, screen printing and tattooing. The direction of their work has been deeply influenced by queer and tattoo culture with a focus on creating images that explore vulnerable masculinity and challenge gender stereotypes. They are co-founder of Homebody Tattoo, a queer focused tattoo collective located in Vancouver.

Liam Murley (they/she) is an interdisciplinary artist who’s practice explores queer identity and culture through storytelling. Their experience as a transgender person motivates them to take control of their presentation and personal narrative through conventions of drag both physically and sonically. Queer nightlife, the nuances of intimacy, and experiences of religious trauma inspire them to create performances that transport people. Their goal is to escape reality by writing new stories and explore being different people.

Soren Dyck (he/him) is a transmasc Inuk artist and tattooer. Originally from the north, he grew up in the Canadian prairies and is currently based in so-called ‘Vancouver’. He works in a variety of mediums including tattooing, digital illustration, and fibre art, exploring themes of queerness, identity, and the other, often through a lense of anthropomorphism and nonhuman representation.

Paige Bowman (they/them) is a nonbinary settler born and raised on the unceded territory of the LEKWUNGEN and WSANEC peoples (“Victoria”) and currently residing in the unceded territory of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh peoples (“Vancouver”). They are a working illustrator who uses predominantly traditional materials within the context of painting, animation, mural, and sculpture. Their work is inspired by folklore, storytelling, identity and connection to our natural world. Bright palettes and bold shapes make up the bulk of their practice, as well as embracing accidental mark making and the unpredictable nature of damaged materials and surfaces.

Addison Finch (he/him) Addison Finch is a queer, trans, mixed tattooer & illustrator. Having come out as trans over 16 years ago, he’s interested in the ways that our genders and the way that we speak about them both personally and culturally have shifted over time. His practice is influenced by tattoo culture, queer community, and leather and kink history, with a particular focus on the reclamation of gender and identity through art and body modification.

Dee Twentee (they/he) is a gay and trans masculine artist, educator, performer, and designer who has been dabbling in fiber arts since they were a teen. Dee’s cross-stitch pieces aim to give visibility to their community’s triumphs, history, and hardships. Putting hundreds and thousands of tiny Xs into fabric has allowed Dee to process and share their gender journey over the past six years. They are also overjoyed that their designs have also created space so that trans and queer stitchers feel seen in a traditionally cis-gendered, heteronormative craft. Dee uses their educational background to pair additional pedagogic moments to their work, such as their 12-month craft and learn-along program, Stitch4Pride.