Bio

Andrew Ihamaki, b. 1989

Andrew Ihamaki (he/him) is a multidisciplinary visual artist, writer, and educator from Peterborough, Ontario, Canada. He is a graduate of the University of Toronto, Trent University, and Sheridan College, respectively.

As a writer, he has contributed to numerous publications and short story anthologies, including VISIO Literary (Kingston), Absynthe Magazine (Trent University: Peterborough), as well as 'Come With Me, I'll Show You' and 'Passing Through' both from Life Rattle Press (Toronto). In 2019, he was the writer-in-residence at the Fish Factory Creative Centre of Stöðvarfjörður, Iceland. He has appeared on stage for numerous public readings including the 2019 Show and Tell Poetry series, the 2016 launch of the eCityLit Coffee Sleeve project, and the 2013 Totally Unknown Writer's Festival, which was held at the historic Rivoli Theatre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

As a visual artist, Ihamaki works predominantly in oil paint, ink, and graphite. His work explores themes of personal identity, memory, and the spaces we occupy, through the exploration of narrative structures — both implicit and explicit — that pull from the familiar, the kitsch, and the personal. He is slated to complete his second international residency at the Takahuhti Artists Residence in Tampere, Finland (2022) as the artist- and writer-in-residence. He has exhibited his works in galleries across Ontario, including the Black Cat-Artspace, Evans Contemporary, Graven Feather, and Blackwood Gallery, and his work is held in many private collections in Canada, as well as internationally in Finland, Iceland, the Netherlands, and the UK.

Currently, Ihamaki is living and working in Peterborough, Ontario, where he maintains his writing and studio practice while working as the Education Programming Coordinator at the Art Gallery of Peterborough.