MEET OUR TEAM
STAFF
ZANDI DANDIZETTE
they/them
Executive Director & Founder
Zandi is a nonbinary settler-immigrant new media interdisciplinary artist. They seek to decenter colonial legacy, and empower voices affected by systems of oppression. They graduated with a BMA in Animation in 2014 from Emily Carr University. Zandi co-founded JBG in 2014, and was the longest resident from the artists-in-residence program. They are a current board member of CARFAC National and PAARC BC representative to ARCA. They helped co-found the Arts and Cultural Workers Union, originated an equity-based commission nonprofit store Pressure Point, and previously served on the board of VIVO Media Arts Centre.
zandi@thejamesblack.gallery
anata laylay
they/them
Events Coordinator and Assistant Curator
anata laylay is a trans nonbinary Filipinx ancestral medicine worker and curator from the rivers and hills. They are from Hagonoy, Bulacan and Catanauan, Quezon. Currently, they are living on stolen and unceded xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, səlilwətaɬ land. They have curated for multiple film festivals and magazines. In June of 2023, they curated the exhibition, “bahay na babalik-balikan” at The James Black Gallery. Following that, they curated "lagi akong uuwi" as a second iteration in May 2024 at The Cultch.
Outside of curating, anata laylay is focused on community organizing, activism, and continuing to learn and share knowledge as a Filipinx healer and ritual worker. Through continued learning with mentors, anata laylay is deepening their ancestral medicine knowledge and continuing to share food knowledge, Hilot, and ancestral altar spaces with their communities. They are committed to honouring their ancestors, community care, decolonization and fighting for national democracy and genuine liberation!
events@thejamesblack.gallery
DAX HEAVEN
they/them
Pressure Point Coordinator
Dax Heaven 許雅慧 (they/them/theirs) is a queer, non-binary, second-generation Chinese settler living and working on traditional unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh , and səlilwətaɬ First Nations. As a writer and photographer raised by the oceanside of Snuneymuxw territories, their diaristic practice centers around nonsense, place/lessness, and deconstructing boundaries. In 2020, they released their first self-published chapbook, 妹 (Little Sister). They graduated from the University of British Columbia with a BA in Film Studies in 2021. Currently, they work as project lead for Chinatown Today, and web editor for SAD Magazine. Their work centres around their Chinatown community, where you can frequently find them frolicking with a bao in hand. They are excited to step into their role as Shop Coordinator at Pressure Point, and to nurture an ecosystem built on relations to people, not profit.
JADE ARIANA
she/her or they/them
Studio Coordinator
Jade Ariana is a multidisciplinary artist living in Vancouver, BC. (stolen and unceded xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, səlilwətaɬ land) She works across the genre of painting, performance, sound, and installation. She is a socially engaged artist whose social practice extends to arts education with youth and a healing arts practice. She has been making art for as long as she can recall as a form of guidance and self-recovery. She emphasizes resourcefulness in her practice, both her own and that of her ancestral legacy. Her art praxis is both research-based and heavily guided by intuition. She paints what she sees in visions, dreams, and from visceral responses to her study of personal and generational histories. She is a current studio collective member at the JBG.
HANNAH HASHIMOTO
she/her
Ceramics Studio Co-Lead
Hannah assists in the ceramics studio together assisting with orientating new studio members, running the instagram, and technical kiln support. Hannah volunteers with the BC Potters' Guild kiln firings and has work under Lokuro Studio.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
BRONWYN WORRICK
she/her
Chairperson
Bronwyn is a sustainability consultant with a creative and entrepreneurial spirit. She is passionate about supporting spaces that build community around the arts. Bronwyn has worked with a wide-range of organizations (start-ups, small businesses, government, and nonprofits alike) on strategic planning initiatives including sustainability goal-setting, visioning, risk management, and annual reporting. She leverages holistic, systems-based approaches and aims to engage key stakeholders, rightsholders, and decision-makers in all of her work.
Bronwyn has owned and operated multiple small businesses, including luuceo consulting, a small sustainability and strategic solutions firm based in Vancouver, from 2019-2022. Prior to co-founding luuceo and completing her MBA, Bronwyn produced, promoted, and managed events in Montreal. She collaborated with established local organizers including Montreal's Mural Festival and Naïve Melodie (an event series spearheaded by members of Arcade Fire to raise funds for KANPE, a non-profit organization that supports rural communities in Haiti).
MOHADESEH JAZAEI
she/her
Executive Secretary
Mohadeseh Jazaei has a Ph.D. in Political Science. With over five years of experience as a Secretary and Vice Chair in the local community, she has led and empowered students. Her passion lies in supporting artists, entrepreneurs and social activists through nonprofit organizations. She is excited to bring her expertise and dedication to the James Black Gallery Board of Directors.
BRENDAN RILEY
he/him
Member At-Large
Driven to create art that brings forth representation of marginalized communities, Brendan Riley has found passion in amplifying fellow BIPOC & Queer voices. He brings many years of experience in the film/modelling industry as a producer of photoshoots and an actor/model. His latest venture has been opening a successful community-focused cafe (mah milk bar) in the neighbourhood of East Vancouver.
SWETHA RANASURIYA
she/her
Vice Chairperson
Swetha is a multidisciplinary human who is passionate about understanding humans. Currently she is doing this through art therapy, clinical counselling, teaching, focusing on her own spiritual practices, and parenting. She strives to decolonize all of these realms as she moves through them.
HEIDI NAGTEGAAL
they/them
Treasurer
Heidi is queer, pansexual, agender or gender neutral depending on the day, a first generation Dutch immigrant, settler, Hard of Hearing, diagnosed Bi Polar, ADHD, and Autistic, undiagnosed OCD, someone that has experienced body pain and physical developmental problems, while being hyperlexic and extremely smart. So it’s a mix. There are things they excel at, and barriers. Heidi is not a perfect person, but aims to continuously learn and unlearn to be a better ally, community member, family member, co-worker, and friend.
As an artist, Heidi has exhibited internationally and locally, with an intention to talk about things that are hard to express in words, by embodying physical and emotive forms. They also started arts organizations Hammock Residency and Centre Centre, which focus on different models around art making, care, and inhabiting third spaces.
PEDRAM DODANI
they/them
Member At-Large