CINDY BLAŽEVIĆ

I’m thrilled to share that a selection of my photographs of undocumented youth living invisibly and precariously in Canada are being exhibited in Helsinki as part of @helphotofestival For anyone in Finland, the opening is at Kaisaniemi Botanic Garden, Wed 30th August 2023; 18:00 at the Finnish Museum of Natural History LUOMUS. The exhibition runs until October 30, 2023. The images are part of the work The Kid Who Sits Next to You in Class. With thanks to the @canada.council for their support for the creation of this body of work. This project would 💯 not be possible without ongoing collaboration with CASA (Childhood Arrivals Support and Advocacy), a program of @jfcyontario 🙏 #statusforall #regularizeeveryone

I am happy to announce that my book project The Stink of Motherhood was just given an honourable mention for this year’s Burtynsky Grant. Congratulations to the winner Morris Lum @_morris_lum_ and to my fellow honourees Sandra Brewster @sabrewst and Chris M Forsyth @chrismforsyth . I’m thrilled to be in such good company. Thank you to the jury (Edward Burtynksy, Nour Bishouty, Anne-Marie Proulx and Ryan Walker) and to everyone at @contactphoto for the honour! *** The Stink of Motherhood is a book of photographs (2020-2022) and confessions from daily postcard journal entries (2021-2022) that were mailed to anonymous recipients throughout the world. These dispatches—crossing the worlds of the imagined, fantastical and the mundane of lived experience—act as both a record of their time and a record of the indelible traces we leave upon each other, knowingly and unknowingly. *** Photographer Edward Burtynsky and CONTACT established the Burtynsky Grant in 2016–a $5,000 annual grant to support a Canadian artist in the creation of a photobook. The grant supports photo-based artists who are at the advanced stages of developing a cohesive, rigorous body of work presented in book form.

The endlessly cold Toronto weather compels me to post this heat. Bathe yourself in it, treat it as a balm, a talisman, a lucky possum, a lullaby.

It’s back! 𝑨 𝑴𝒂𝒓𝒌𝒆𝒕 𝑪𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏: a performance of labour, an investigation of relational economics, of gendered and invisible labour, of artificial disruptions of the free market. I need participants. The list of tasks I will perform is on my website. I’ll send the rules when you sign up. This is a relational project. We will be relating. Participation can be anonymous, all judgement is reserved. Maximum 2 degree of separation. 𝑳𝒊𝒏𝒌. 𝑰𝒔. 𝑰𝒏. 𝑴𝒚. 𝑩𝒊𝒐. 𝑫𝒐 𝒊𝒕. 🤘

My love, my original muse, my Rabbit is 13. IYKYK: the conversations, the non-stop curiosity, the people (and sidewalk treasures) he pulls into our lives, his wonderful humour and (heart stopping) pranks ❤️

“Road Trip: How It Started” (Toronto, 2022) and “Road Trip: How It’s Going” (Lakefield, 2022) are part of the exhibition On Time, a gem of a show beautifully curated by @fishmelissa  and @here_and__here at @gallery.1065  . These two photographs are originally from The Stink of Motherhood, a photobook inspired by a postcard series inspired by isolation inspired by despair. The work is in extremely good company, so go check out the show before it closes Sunday 12th April 6pm. _________ On Time April 2 - 12, 2026 Gallery Hours: Wednesday to Sunday 12-6pm Gallery 1065 - 1065 Bloor St West Farah Al Amin, Cindy Blažević, Adam David Brown, Melissa Fisher-Rozenberg, Vanessa Dion Fletcher, Nilou Ghaemi, Erica H Isomura, Stan Kryzanowski, Jenn Law, Ginette Legaré, Micah Lexier, Reiko Machiyama, Maddy Mathews, Jessie McNeil, Philip Leonard Ocampo, Ed Pien, Amy Rogers, Kristin Sjaarda, Lan “Florence” Yee

My talk last week at TMU had me thinking about the dominance of windows in my early documentary work. A brief survey, out of order: Albania, Serbia, Kosovo, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Bosnia (2007-2010) Also, war is a fucked concept.

Birthday metaphors I have much gratitude for the community of beautiful souls that have woven themselves into my life and allowed me to weave myself into theirs. The ineffable alchemy. It’s all there is, really.

With the energy of 100 baby goats, these free wheeling exotic atoms have been bouncing off each other and all matter they encounter for NINE years as of today. They seem to move effortlessly through their world, physically, socially, empathetically, mildly destructively. Happy birthday to my fiercely individual halves of that long-ago split egg. In hindsight, there was no way a single egg could have contained so much force majeure ❤️

So great to have my pictures support @alexbozikovic ’s take on @workshoparchto ’s brilliant addition to the Hamilton Children’s Museum. In today’s @globeandmail

🧳 The Kid Who Sits Next to You in Class – that kid might be undocumented. Cindy Blazevic’s series portrays young people who grew up in Canada without legal status. Flowers and personal objects conceal their faces, shielding them from deportation while asserting a quiet, shared identity. Unlike the U.S. Dreamers, Canada offers no legal pathway or protection. These youth remain politically invisible – isolated, blocked from education, housing, and work. Blazevic's photographic and video-based installations create a space for solidarity. The project, funded by the Canada Council for the Arts, raises the profile of this vulnerable group of Canadian immigrants and offers hope that steps towards recognition may eventually be taken. 📷 Finalist at PORTRAITS 2025 | @blazingwitch -------------------------- 🧳 The Kid Who Sits Next to You in Class – vielleicht ohne Papiere. Cindy Blazevic porträtiert junge Menschen, die als Kinder nach Kanada kamen und dort ohne legalen Status leben. Blumen und persönliche Gegenstände verdecken ihre Gesichter – als Schutz vor Abschiebung und als Symbol ihrer gemeinsamen, oft unsichtbaren Identität. Im Gegensatz zu den „Dreamers“ in den USA haben undokumentierte Jugendliche in Kanada keine gesetzliche Perspektive. Sie bleiben politisch unsichtbar – ausgeschlossen von Bildung, Wohnraum, Arbeit. Blazevics fotografische und videobasierte Installationen schaffen einen Raum für Solidarität. Das vom Canada Council for the Arts geförderte Projekt stärkt die Sichtbarkeit dieser fragilen kanadischen Immigrantengruppe und macht Mut, dass hier vielleicht irgendwann Schritte der Anerkennung gegangen werden können. 📷 Finalistin bei PORTRAITS 2025 | @blazingwitch #portraitshellerau #hellerau #photographyaward #artandculture

So many career highlights this year. But it seems what everyone got most jazzed about in 2025 was kids, carnage, animals, nature, selfies and Palestine 🤘 Hoping the world is less of a dumpster fire in 2026 😘