THUNDER BAY — Bianca Gascoigne, also known as Bianca Artistry, has an exhibit at the Goods & Co. Lab that celebrates culture through makeup.
The gallery for the art exhibition, Spectrum, opened on Feb. 1 and will continue to be on display until Feb. 16.
“The goal was to promote inclusivity, cultural appreciation, to empower immigrant voices and to express artistic vision in the beauty industry,” Gascoigne said.
She put out a call for multicultural models on Instagram, did two-hour makeup sessions and took the photos all in her spare time.
“I have a lot of friends in the city who have cultural backgrounds, and I just I have so much appreciation for it and for them. I wanted people to appreciate the beauty of culture. My mom and her family also immigrated to Canada from Italy when they were younger. They didn't have the easiest time when they moved to Canada, so I just wanted to kind of pay respects to them as well,” she said.
Gascoigne has a donation bin at the front entrance, which is in support of the Thunder Bay Multicultural Association.
“The multicultural association aids with the settlement of newcomers to Canada, and they provide a program called Link, which is a language instruction program just to help people settle in as well.
“I feel like the Multicultural Association does so much good for Thunder Bay, and also, I feel like if you have any kind of platform, whether it's big or small, that you should be doing good with that and promoting good things,” Gascoigne said.
Each photo, taken by Gascoigne, also has a write-up underneath.
“The write-ups introduce each of the models. It'll have their name, their reason for choosing Thunder Bay, it'll also have the makeup inspiration.”
Since opening night, the Co.Lab has been busy with members of the public checking out the exhibit.
“It's been fantastic. On opening night, some of the models surprised their parents with this exhibition, so their parents didn't know what they were walking into; saw their daughter on the wall, and there were tears, there was a lot of appreciation, a lot of people were thankful for that representation,” she said.
“I would love to continue doing more artistic applications as far as makeup goes. I'm also a beauty photographer and visual artist, so to me, just being creative makes me happy. To continue doing that, I think that's what the future holds,” she said.
Gascoigne is on Instagram and Facebook and has a website where she can be contacted.
