Oh no, it’s morning for you
Samy Kiss

Samy Kiss

Since moving to Montreal, I have been interested in how friendships and family ties endure despite distance. My artistic practice is rooted in these experiences of attachment to a space that I can only access through my memories, photos, and relationships. By transforming my
archives into printed art, I seek to reconcile proximity and distance, to materialize the bonds that escape physical presence but remain alive.
Personal archives are the starting point for this project. I draw on my digital exchanges to search for traces of affection: messages sent, screenshots, pictures, a few postcards (there are still some left!). These fragments of correspondence, often ordinary and everyday, become the materials for a new visual space. Based on these elements, I redraw imaginary landscapes where real memories and fictional projections intersect: compositions combining drawing and text, designed to represent complex issues in the form of a poetic network. These fragments map out my connections with the people and places that, a few years ago, made up my daily life and that, today, inhabit my imagination.

Produced as part of the François-Xavier-Marange grant from the UQAM Foundation, this exhibition brings together the traces of a year-long residency at the Atelier Circulaire. My project allowed me to hone my skills in lithography (a printing process that transfers a design
from a flat stone onto paper). I also explored risography and printing on colored paper, which allowed me to experiment with larger formats. Paper becomes a playground that I fold, cut, bind, and transform, combining precision and spontaneity. Through these explorations, my work seeks to open up a playful and intimate space that facilitates the transition from the real to the imaginary and, I hope, from the personal to the collective.

Samy Kiss is a visual artist based in Tiohtià:ke / Montréal. They trained in graphic design in Geneva (DEP – equivalent to a Federal Certificate of Capacity) and went on to complete a bachelor’s degree in Visual and Media Arts at UQAM (Montréal, Canada). Their practice is rooted in printmaking, where drawing, color, and autofiction intersect. Samy’s involvement in cultural communities, notably through visual communication and the organization of workshops, accompanies and extends their artistic practice. A recipient of the François-Xavier-Marange Scholarship, they completed a one-year residency at Atelier Circulaire (2024–2025). Their work has been presented in various venues, including the Salle d’exposition de la Place des Arts, Galerie Fais-moi l’art, Ateliers Belleville, L’Incroyable Salon du Zine, Expozine, and LESPACEMAKER.