The Kingston Women’s Art Festival honoured Sumera Kahn as the recipient of its first bursary on Saturday at the annual festival in City Park.
Khan is a local artist in Kingston whose art channels real-life stories and paintings from pictures she took herself. She received $1,000, which will go toward the new collection she is working on.
In an interview with YGK News, Khan spoke about the art she proposed to the committee, which won her the bursary.
“The idea that I proposed is really close to my heart; like all my work is centred around caregiving,” said Khan. “I really wanted that bursary to support that idea and bring it to the audience and have that conversation,” Khan continued.
With the help of the festival’s bursary, Khan is working on paintings that focus on women in caregiving roles, including mothers and healthcare workers, especially those who care for people with invisible disabilities.
Khan experienced art as a form of therapy, and shared why she started to paint full time.
“I started painting things to have that therapeutic moment creating something, and then I knew that that’s what I wanted to do full time once my kids were a little older,” said Khan.
Khan’s tent from the Women’s Art Festival (YGK News/Meaghan Beavis)
Along with presenting the first-ever bursary winner, the festival expanded on interactive features including a new scavenger hunt. There were also new vendors, live music, and merchandise items featuring this year’s festival design.
Meagan Lapointe, director of the Women’s Art Festival, credited her fellow committee members with the festival’s planning.
“It really does take a whole community to do this festival, and I feel like everybody who was on the committee just really pulled through…We just have such a great group of women that are committed to helping this festival thrive,” said Lapointe.
Lapointe anticipates new experiences for festival attendees in the future and looks forward to uplifting more women.
“We’re hoping to have more installations, interactive art experiences, and we really love supporting women in the arts, so the more local women artists that we can pay to also perform or engage within our festival, the better,” said Lapointe.
Khan will work alongside the committee and showcase the art she created from the bursary at the next Women’s Art Festival in 2027.
