KREAM RESIDENCY

As artist-in-residence at the Khyber Centre for the Arts, Miya Turnbull plans to use the gallery walls to trace her body, leaving skin-suits and masks in her place in various gestures as she prepares for an upcoming exhibit at Eastern Edge Gallery in St. John's, NL, opening in April. 

During the week of March 16-22, she will have drop-in studio hours at the Khyber, offer a Self-Portrait Origami workshop on Saturday, March 21, and will install work in the window gallery viewable March 23-April 16, 2026.

Drop-in Studio Hours: 1-7PM Wednesday, March 18 + Thursday, March 19 + Friday, March 20
Miya Turnbull is offering 3 days of drop-in studio hours, where the public can come see her works-in-progress. No registration required, just drop-in :)

Self-Portrait Origami Workshop: 1-5PM on Saturday, March 21
REGISTER HERE for one-hour time slots, 1-2PM, 230-330PM, or 4-5PM.

"This participatory Origami workshop uses paper printed with my own self-portrait. Initially, my facial features appear fragmented across the flat surface of the paper, but as folds accumulate, the image shifts, becoming alternately obscured, reconfigured and unexpectedly coherent. Participants will actively shape the portrait into several different traditional designs, some of which are interactive, such as a jumping frog and paku paku (fortune teller).

Free and Family Friendly!! Highly recommended that younger kids have assistance from a caregiver. No previous origami experience necessary. Register now :)

Window Gallery Installation: March 23-April 16, 2026
Miya Turnball's Self-Portrait installation will be viewable 24/7 from the sidewalk at 1880 Hollis St.

ACCESSIBILITY: www.khyber.ca/access

MORE INFO?

 

Feel free to reach out to hannah@khyber.ca if you would like to receive more information about Miya Turnbull's residency, workshops, window installation, accessibilty, or the KREAM residency program in general.

Miya Turnbull (she/her) is a multi-disciplinary visual artist based in Kjipuktuk (Halifax, NS), originally from Alberta. Working across sculpture, photography, video, and performance, her practice is rooted in mask-making. She is best known for her ongoing series of Photo-Masks: life-like self-portraits that are altered and reconfigured to explore identity, persona, and cultural hybridity. Turnbull uses these "false faces" to examine the layered, shifting nature of selfhood. Her most recent solo exhibition was at Cape Breton University Art Gallery, and she currently has work on display at the Museum of Fine Art at Florida State University (FSU MoFA). 

Her work has been featured in Visual Arts News, Art Reveal (Germany), and Vogue Thailand, and she has collaborated with dance artists, performing with her masks in Halifax, Montréal, Toronto, and Vancouver. In 2025, Turnbull was long-listed for the Sobey Art Award. She has been fortunate to receive support from Arts Nova Scotia, Support4Culture, the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Japanese Canadian Legacies Society, which has been instrumental in the continued development of her work.